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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Plant Science Research » Research » Research Project #434039

Research Project: Characterizing QTL in Wheat

Location: Plant Science Research

Project Number: 6070-22000-018-023-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: May 1, 2019
End Date: Oct 14, 2021

Objective:
Objectives include: 1) Validation of Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) for grain yield components identified in previous studies; 2) Dissection of QTL by map-based cloning; 3) Validations of candidate genes using mutant and transgenic approaches; 4) Deployment of useful QTL in public wheat breeding programs; and 5) Training a new cohort of plant breeders.

Approach:
Approach Obj 1: Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) for grain yield components identified in the wheat Association mapping (AM) panels will be evaluated in different environments using genotyped populations. Approach Obj 2: Once a QTL is validated in a bi-parental population, heterogeneous inbred families (HIFs) will be developed. Kompetitive Allele Specific (KASP) markers flanking the target QTL region will be developed to characterize segregating progeny from each HIF. Informative recombinants will be tested in highly replicated field trials. Approach Obj 3: Candidate genes will be validated using mutagenesis and transgenic approaches. Approach Obj 4: PhD students will be assigned a QTL or mutant to study and deploy in his/her home breeding program using backcross and forward breeding. Regional genotyping will facilitate deployment across regions and breeding programs. Genomic selection approaches will be explored to combine multiple QTL. Approach obj 5: We will provide an integrated training to PhD students including field breeding, experimental design, genomics, bioinformatics and plant physiology. We will emphasize training in bioinformatics and statistics through online conferences and courses, short workshops, student seminars, and support for travel to conferences.