Molecular mapping of genes for Coleoptile growth in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Successful plant establishment is critical to the development of high-yielding crops. Short coleoptiles can reduce seedling emergence particularly when seed is sown deep as occurs when moisture necessary for germination is deep in the subsoil. Detailed molecular maps for a range of wheat doubled-haploid populations (Cranbrook/Halberd, Sunco/Tasman, CD87/Katepwa and Kukri/Janz) were used to identify genomic regions affecting coleoptile characteristics length, cross-sectional area and degree of spiralling across contrasting soil temperatures. Genotypic variation was large and distributions of genotype means were approximately normal with evidence for transgressive segregation. Narrow-sense heritabilities were high for coleoptile length and cross-sectional area indicating a strong genetic basis for differences among progeny. In contrast, heritabilities for coleoptile spiralling were small. Molecular marker analyses identified a number of significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) for coleoptile growth. Many of the coleoptile growth QTL mapped directly to the Rht-B1 or Rht-D1 dwarfing gene loci conferring reduced cell size through insensitivity to endogenous gibberellins. Other QTL for coleoptile growth were identified throughout the genome. Epistatic interactions were small or non-existent, and there was little evidence for any QTL x temperature interaction. Gene effects at significant QTL were approximately one-half to one-quarter the size of effects at the Rht-B1 and Rht-D1 regions. However, selection at these QTL could together alter coleoptile length by up to 50 mm. In addition to Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b, genomic regions on chromosomes 2B, 2D, 4A, 5D and 6B were repeatable across two or more populations suggesting their potential value for use in breeding and marker-aided selection for greater coleoptile length and improved establishment.