Enriched grain minerals in Aegilops tauschii-derived common wheat population under heat-stress environments

In wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), an important source of dietary minerals, heat stress during the grain filling stage negatively affects grain yield and quality. Wheat grain mineral content has been primarily evaluated under optimum conditions; little information is available on the genetic variations and loci involved in mineral accumulation under heat stress. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the variation in 13-grain mineral concentrations and thousand kernel weight of 145 wheat multiple synthetic derivatives (MSD) genotypes harboring genes from the wild relative Aegilops tauschii Coss., evaluated under heat-stress field conditions in Sudan for two seasons, and to dissect the genomic regions associated with these mineral contents using GWAS. Our results showed sufficient variations in mineral concentrations among the MSD lines. Some MSD lines had 30-50% more minerals than the recurrent parent Norin 61. We detected 188 significant marker-trait associations (MTAs), 44 MTAs in season 2018/19, one in season 2019/20, and 143 based on BLUE. The highly significant, stable, and promising MTAs were related to Mg, Mn, P, and Ba. We identified putative candidate genes potentially involved in mineral movement (TraesCS5D03G0728800) and response to heat stress (TraesCS5D03G0723300). The findings in this study help to enhance mineral concentration and resilience in wheat under heat.