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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Cereal Crops Improvement Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #430075
Research Project: Improvement of Disease and Pest Resistance in Barley, Durum, Oat, and Wheat Using Genetics and Genomics

Location: Cereal Crops Improvement Research

Title: Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) mapping for drought stress tolerance using chromosomal substitution lines and recombinant inbred lines (RILs) in durum wheat

Author
item GUDI, SANTOSH - North Dakota State University
item SINGH, JATINDER - North Dakota State University
item Faris, Justin
item Gupta, Rajeev

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/17/2025
Publication Date: 1/9/2026
Citation: Gudi, S., Singh, J., Faris, J.D., Gupta, R. 2026. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) mapping for drought stress tolerance using chromosomal substitution lines and recombinant inbred lines (RILs) in durum wheat. Meeting Abstract. Poster No. P745.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Drought stress affects grain yield and quality of durum wheat by interfering various physiological, molecular, and biochemical processes at multiple developmental stages. Germplasm characterization and identification of potential genomic regions associated with drought tolerance is the first step in developing resilient cultivars. In this study, we evaluated 20 genetically and phenotypically diverse tetraploid wheat accessions belonging to cultivated and wild species under severe drought stress using an in-house developed protocol and identified four extremely drought tolerant genotypes including the CIMMYT-bred durum variety Altar 84, the two wild emmer (Triticum dicoccoides) accessions PI 478742 and PI 481521, and the cultivated emmer (T. dicoccum) accession PI 41025. Chromosome substitution lines involving individual pairs of chromosomes from PI 478742 and PI 481521 substituted for homologous pairs of chromosomes in the drought sensitive durum variety Langdon 16 were developed by the late Dr. L.R. Joppa and evaluated here to identify the chromosome(s) carrying drought resistance loci. The 11 available substitution lines involving PI 478742, among which substitutions for chromosomes 2A, 3A, and 3B were not available, were all sensitive to drought. All 14 possible chromosome substitution lines for PI 481521 were available, and among these, 13 were drought sensitive like Langdon 16. The substitution line involving PI 481521 chromosome 3A (LDN521-3A) showed extreme drought tolerance at a level comparable to PI-481521. Because the substitution line for chromosome 3A of PI 478742 was not available for evaluation, it is possible that drought tolerance of PI 478742 is also conferred by a locus on 3A. To map drought tolerance in Altar 84, we performed QTL mapping using 138 recombinant inbred lines (RILs; F10 generation) derived by crossing Altar 84 and Langdon 16 and identified a major QTL on the short arm of chromosome 4B explaining 26% of the phenotypic variation. BLAST searches using flanking markers sequences against the Svevo RefSeq v1.0 sequence revealed that the QTL spans large physical region of approximately 265.52 Mb. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of gene TRITD4Bv1G024340, which is an orthologue of a drought resistance gene (TaWD40-4B.1) cloned from same genomic region in hexaploid wheat, suggested that the Altar 84 QTL is novel and governed by a different gene. The drought tolerant lines and the genomic regions identified in this study serve as novel resources for developing drought resilient durum wheat varieties suitable for harsh environments.