Journal Article

wheat 1‐FEH w3 variant underlies enzyme activity for stem WSC remobilization to grain under drought

Zhang, Jingjuan, Chen, Wei, Vergauwen, Rudy, Appels, Rudi, Luo, Hao, Van den Ende, Wim, Xu, Yunji, Biddulph, Ben, Khan, Nusrat, Dell, Bernard

2015

Overview

In wheat stems, the levels of fructan‐dominated water‐soluble carbohydrates (WSC) do not always correlate well with grain yield. Field drought experiments were carried out to further explain this lack of correlation. Wheat (Triticum aestivum) varieties, Westonia, Kauz and c. 20 genetically diverse double haploid (DH) lines derived from them were investigated. Substantial genotypic differences in fructan remobilization were found and the 1‐FEH w3 gene was shown to be the major contributor in the stem fructan remobilization process based on enzyme activity and gene expression results. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was detected in an auxin response element in the 1‐FEH w3 promoter region, therefore we speculated that the mutated Westonia allele might affect gene expression and enzyme activity levels. A cleaved amplified polymorphic (CAP) marker was generated from the SNP. The harvested results showed that the mutated Westonia 1‐FEH w3 allele was associated with a higher thousand grain weight (TGW) under drought conditions in 2011 and 2012. These results indicated that higher gene expression of 1‐FEH w3 and 1‐FEH w3 mediated enzyme activities that favoured stem WSC remobilization to the grains. The CAP marker residing in the 1‐FEH w3 promoter region may facilitate wheat breeding by selecting lines with high stem fructan remobilization capacity under terminal drought.

• Publisher: Academic Press,New Phytologist Trust,Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subject: Agricultural Irrigation / Alleles / Auxins / Biomass / Breeding / Carbohydrates / Carbohydrates - analysis / Crop yield / doubled haploids / Drought / Droughts / Enzymatic activity / Enzyme activity / Enzymes / fructan degradation / Fructans - metabolism / Fructose - metabolism / Gene expression / Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Gene polymorphism / Genes, Plant / Genetic Markers / Genetic Variation / Genotype / Grain / grain filling / grain yield / Haploidy / Markers / Nucleotides / Plant breeding / Plant Proteins - genetics / Plant Proteins - metabolism / Plant Stems - metabolism / Polymorphism / promoter regions / Promoters / Seeds - metabolism / single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) / Single-nucleotide polymorphism / Solubility / stem water‐soluble carbohydrate (WSC) remobilization / Stems / terminal drought / Triticum - enzymology / Triticum - genetics / Triticum - metabolism / Triticum aestivum / Water - chemistry / Western Australia / Wheat