ARS | Publication request: Genetic mapping of thirteen drought tolerance candidate genes in wheat (T. aestivum)

Submitted to: Plant and Animal Genome VX Conference Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 1, 2009
Publication Date: January 8, 2010
Repository URL: http://riley.nal.usda.gov/nal_web/digi/submission.html
Citation: Hu, G., Chen, J., Chu, C., Wu, Y. 2010. Genetic mapping of thirteen drought tolerance candidate genes in wheat (T. aestivum). Plant and Animal Genome XV111 Conference Abstracts. 189

Technical Abstract: Drought is a major stress that affects wheat production worldwide. Complex mechanisms and genetic networks regulate the drought tolerance in plants. It is an efficient approach to speed up the wheat drought tolerance study by using knowledge generated from other plant species for the same trait. The objective of this study was to map 13 wheat ortholog genes that showed important role in drought tolerance in other plant species. The wheat ortholog sequences of the candidate genes were identified by homology searching in the wheat database. Primer pairs for each gene were designed for producing repeatable PCR products. Parental lines of the three mapping populations were used for primer screening on the 6% acrylmide gel. Seven of the thirteen genes were mapped to seven chromosomal regions based on one mapping population, while the remaining six were mapped to four chromosomes using the null-tetrasomic lines of Chinese Spring. PCR products in two of the seven genetically mapped genes were co-dominant and the rest of them were dominant STS markers. In addition to the identified STS markers, other PCR-based markers flanking the candidate genes were also identified. Once the functions of the candidate genes were confirmed, those gene flanking and gene-specific DNA markers developed in this study could be very useful for more reliable selection of drought tolerance genotypes in the breeding program. The results suggested that the candidate gene approach could be used in genetic study and marker development for drought tolerance in common wheat.