Improving wheat grain composition for human health by constructing a QTL atlas for essential minerals
Wheat is an important source of minerals for human nutrition and increasing grain mineral content can contribute to reducing mineral deficiencies. Here, we identify QTLs for mineral micronutrients in grain of wheat by determining the contents of six minerals in a total of eleven sample sets of three biparental populations from crosses between A.E. Watkins landraces and cv. Paragon. Twenty-three of the QTLs are mapped in two or more sample sets, with LOD scores above five in at least one set with the increasing alleles for sixteen of the QTLs being present in the landraces and seven in Paragon. Of these QTLs, the number for each mineral varies between three and five and they are located on 14 of the 21 chromosomes, with clusters on chromosomes 5A (four), 6A (three), and 7A (three). The gene content within 5 megabases of DNA on either side of the marker for the QTL with the highest LOD score is determined and the gene responsible for the strongest QTL (chromosome 5A for Ca) identified as an ATPase transporter gene (TraesCS5A02G543300) using mutagenesis. The identification of these QTLs, together with associated SNP markers and candidate genes, will facilitate the improvement of grain nutritional quality.
Authors
- Luzie U. Wingen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4682-4764)
- Simon Orford (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0049-576X)
- Noam Chayut (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2695-5521)
- Peter R. Shewry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6205-2517)
- Malcolm John Hawkesford (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8759-3969)
- Shifeng Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1617-1747)
- Petros P. Sigalas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7069-363X)
- Michelle Leverington‐Waite (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5370-2869)
- Saroj Parmar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6885-8144)
- Cristóbal Uauy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9814-1770)
- Charlie Philp
- Amanda Burridge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0140-5523)
- March Castle
- Simon Griffiths (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2435-7963)
- Cong Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5453-6879)
- A. B. Riche (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4018-6658)
- Ajay Siluveru (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5078-661X)
- David Steele (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9341-9174)
Institutions
- John Innes Centre (GB)
- Rothamsted Research (GB)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Biology
- Published
- 2024-08-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06692-7
- Citations
- 12
- Primary Topic
- Plant Micronutrient Interactions and Effects
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.20
Funders
- Directorate for Biological Sciences
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- National Key Research and Development Program of China