Registration of six albinism wheat sib lines for genetic aberration of photosynthetic pigments

Abstract Plant biologists have long been fascinated with the abnormal, the monstrous, and the defective. Six sib winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) lines with varying types of albinism, ShunMai GAG‐1 (Reg. no. GP‐1090, PI 704106), ShunMai GAG‐2 (Reg. no. GP‐1091, PI 704107), ShunMai GAG‐3 (Reg. no. GP‐1092, PI 704108), ShunMai GAG‐4 (Reg. no. GP‐1093, PI 704109), ShunMai GAG‐5 (Reg. no. GP‐1094, PI 704110), and ShunMai GAG‐6, (Reg. no. GP‐1095, PI 704111), were derived from a cross made in 2013 with unknown pedigree, and were developed using conventional phenotypic selections. Albinism, or stage‐specific albino, is their unique abnormal agronomic characteristics. All their leaves and tillers produced before winter are green, all their spring‐emerging leaves and tillers are albino, and all their summer‐producing leaves turn green again. Their main stems could have at least three albino leaves. In some colder springs, their after‐winter emerging leaves are reddish to pinkish. They may serve as useful experimental materials for addressing a wide range of wheat breeding problems, and for wheat field art too, and may also be important materials for functional studies and eventually lead to the gene discovery. We discuss the possible interactions between plastid genes and nuclear genes and between vernalization genes responsible for the transition from vegetative to generative growth stage and photosynthetic genes.