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Copy number variation of chromosome 5A and its association with Q gene expression, morphological aberrations, and agronomic performance of winter wheat cultivars

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Our investigations combine chromosome 5A copy number variation associated with relative 5A Q gene expression and morphological and agronomic data to characterize the occurrence of speltoid plants in winter wheat cultivars.

Abstract

The occurrence of speltoid aberrants in wheat breeding is a serious problem that may result in rejection of a candidate cultivar during licensing. The spear-shaped, hard threshing spike is caused by copy number reduction of the domestication gene Q, located on the long arm of wheat chromosome 5A. As a member of the APETALA2-like transcription factor family, the 5AQ gene is involved in flower development and pleiotropically controls other agronomic traits. In this report, a characterization of instability of chromosome 5A is given and effects due to the loss of the Q gene and other genes are discussed. Based on pyrosequencing, we correctly predicted the 5AQ copy number for 392 of 402 tested offspring plants (97.5 %) originating from single speltoid plants of eleven wheat cultivars. The findings indicate that the resulting speltoid plants were either reduced in chromosome 5A copy number or possessed a partial deletion of the distal end of chromosome arm 5AL. 5AQ specific real-time PCR analysis revealed varying transcription levels among cultivars. During early spike development, the relative transcription of the 5AQ gene was always lower in speltoids than in normal square headed wheat plants, most likely leading to the occurrence of the characteristic speltoid spike phenotype. The parallel analysis of 18 agronomic traits revealed pleiotropic effects governed by genes located on 5A. Our results demonstrate that through pyrosequencing one can identify aneuploidy or deletions within chromosome 5A to select against the occurrence of speltoid plants in wheat seedlings.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Ms. Roswitha Ende for excellent technical assistance. Also, we thank Dr. Justin D. Faris and Dr. Andreas Börner for providing seeds of the CS fndel-143 deletion and CS nulli-tetrasomic lines, respectively. We are grateful to the Federal Plant Variety Office, Hannover, Germany, and the German breeding companies KWS Lochow GmbH, Bergen, Pflanzenzucht Dr. H.c.R. Carsten, Bad Schwartau, and Dr. Hermann Strube, Söllingen, for providing speltoid bread wheat material. This research was financially supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Berlin (BMWi, Code Number KF 2104501MD8) and the “FAZIT-STIFTUNG Gemeinnützige Verlagsgesellschaft mbH”, Frankfurt am Main. The research project was administrated by the “Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen e.V.”, Köln (AiF) and the “Gemeinschaft zur Förderung der privaten deutschen Pflanzenzüchtung e.V.”, Bonn (GFP).

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We certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization. Further, we strictly followed ethical standards when conducting the reported research.

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  1. Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Betty-Heimann-Str. 3, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Sebastian Förster, Erika Schumann, Mario Baumann, W. Eberhard Weber & Klaus Pillen

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  1. Sebastian Förster
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Correspondence to Sebastian Förster.

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Communicated by A. E. Melchinger.

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Förster, S., Schumann, E., Baumann, M. et al. Copy number variation of chromosome 5A and its association with Q gene expression, morphological aberrations, and agronomic performance of winter wheat cultivars. Theor Appl Genet 126, 3049–3063 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-013-2192-8

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