ARS | Publication request: Registration of a hard red winter wheat genetic stock homozygous for ph1b for facilitating alien introgression for crop improvement

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: July 5, 2011
Publication Date: January 26, 2012
Citation: Friebe, B., Qi, L., Liu, C., Liu, W., Gill, B.S. 2012. Registration of a hard red winter wheat genetic stock homozygous for ph1b for facilitating alien introgression for crop improvement. Journal of Plant Registrations. 6(1):121-123.

Interpretive Summary: The crossing of wheat with another grass species and chromosome engineering have played an important role in wheat crop improvement. However, in wheat/alien species hybrids, the gene Ph1, which regulates chromosome pairing, suppresses the pairing and recombination between wheat and alien chromosomes. As a practical consequence, no alien genetic transfers can occur in the presence of Ph1 gene. However, in the ph1b mutant stock, wheat and alien chromosomes can pair and recombine. The original ph1b mutant stock is derived from the wheat cultivar Chinese Spring, which has poor agronomic characteristics. Several backcrosses with adapted wheat cultivars are necessary before the agronomic performance of the recombinants can be evaluated. The present report describes the transfer and characterization of the ph1b mutant allele into adapted Kansas winter wheat, which will accelerate the evaluation and utilization of wheat alien recombinants in cultivar improvement.

Technical Abstract: Wild relatives of bread wheat, Triticum aestivum L. are an important source for disease and pest resistance that can be exploited in wheat improvement. However, in wheat/alien species hybrids the pairing homoeologous gene, Ph1, suppresses the pairing and recombination of wheat and alien chromosomes, and thus, no alien genetic transfer can occur. However, in plants nullisomic for the Ph1 gene, and in the ph1b mutant stock, having a large deletion at the Ph1 locus, homoeologous wheat and alien chromosomes can pair and recombine. The original ph1b mutant stock is in Chinese Spring background, which has poor agronomic characteristics and several backcrosses with adapted wheat cultivars are necessary before the agronomic performance of the recombinants can be evaluated. The present report describes the transfer and characterization of the ph1b mutant allele into adapted Kansas winter wheat, which will accelerate the evaluation and utilization of wheat alien recombinants in cultivar improvement.