Variation in phosphorus and sulfur content shapes the genetic architecture and phenotypic associations within the wheat grain ionome

Andrii Fatiukha, Valentyna Klymiuk, Zvi Peleg, Yehoshua Saranga, Ismail Cakmak, Tamar Krugman, Abraham B. Korol, Tzion Fahima*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dissection of the genetic basis of wheat ionome is crucial for understanding the physiological and biochemical processes underlying mineral accumulation in seeds, as well as for efficient crop breeding. Most of the elements essential for plants are metals stored in seeds as chelate complexes with phytic acid or sulfur-containing compounds. We assume that the involvement of phosphorus and sulfur in metal chelation is the reason for strong phenotypic correlations within ionome. Adjustment of element concentrations for the effect of variation in phosphorus and sulfur seed content resulted in drastic change of phenotypic correlations between the elements. The genetic architecture of wheat grain ionome was characterized by quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis using a cross between durum and wild emmer wheat. QTL analysis of the adjusted traits and two-trait analysis of the initial traits paired with either P or S considerably improved QTL detection power and accuracy, resulting in the identification of 105 QTLs and 617 QTL effects for 11 elements. Candidate gene search revealed some potential functional associations between QTLs and corresponding genes within their intervals. Thus, we have shown that accounting for variation in P and S is crucial for understanding of the physiological and genetic regulation of mineral composition of wheat grain ionome and can be implemented for other plants.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)555-572
Number of pages18
JournalPlant Journal
Volume101
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Keywords

  • QTL analysis
  • biofortification
  • chelates
  • grain ionome
  • grain protein content
  • wild emmer wheat

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