Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Leymus racemosus: A Potential Species of Gene Pool Enrichment for Wheat Improvement

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Gene Pool Diversity and Crop Improvement

Part of the book series: Sustainable Development and Biodiversity ((SDEB,volume 10))

Abstract

Leymus racemosus is a wild species belonging to tribe Triticeae (Poaceae), which includes important cereal crops such as bread wheat and barley. This perennial species grows along the coast and in dry lands, and is reportedly tolerant to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Although L. racemosus is evolutionarily distant from wheat (Triticum spp.) within the tribe, it has been successfully hybridized with wheat, and several wheat–L. racemosus chromosome introgression lines have been selected from among the backcrossed progenies of the hybrid. L. racemosus is, therefore, a promising wild species for wheat improvement. The production of wheat, as one of the world’s most important staple cereals, must increase to provide food for growing population, but wheat is threatened by the effects of climate change, especially increased drought and heat. In addition, depletion of natural resources makes the likelihood of success for increasing future productivity unclear. Maximizing yield to help achieve food security under such challenging conditions will not be easy. Wheat productivity could be improved by enhancing tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress, and tolerance to soil macro- and micronutrient deficiencies or toxicities. However, the genetic base of variation available for most of these traits is very narrow in the available elite germplasm. Wild relatives of wheat, including L. racemosus, are an important source of wheat genetic variation and have contributed much to the improvement of wheat productivity. This review describes the potential of this wild wheat relative as a germplasm for wheat improvement, and the characteristics that affect its efficient use in breeding, including its chromosomes, traits, and some genes that have been identified and transferred from this species to common wheat.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bushman BS, Larson SR, Mott IW, Cliften PF, Wang RRC, Chatterton NJ, Hernandez AG, Ali S, Kim RW, Thimmapuram J, Gong G, Liu L, Mikel MA (2008) Development and annotation of perennial Triticeae ESTs and SSR markers. Genome 51:779–788

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chen PD, Wang ZT, Wang SL, Huang L, Wang YZ, Liu DJ (1993) Transfer of scab resistance from Elymus giganteus into common wheat. In: Li ZS, Xin ZY (eds) Proceedings of the 8th International wheat genetic symposium. Agricultural Science Tech Press, China, pp 153–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen PD, Wang ZT, Wang SL, Huang L, Wang YZ, Liu DJ (1995) Transfer of useful germplasm from Leymus racemosus Lam, to common wheat. III. Development of addition lines with wheat scab resistance. Chin J Genet 22:119–124

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen P, Liu W, Yuan J, Wang X, Zhou B, Wang S, Zhang S, Feng Y, Yang B, Liu G et al (2005) Development and characterization of wheat–Leymus racemosus translocation lines with resistance to Fusarium head blight. Theor Appl Genet 111:941–948

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cho S-W, Ishii T, Matsumoto N, Tanaka H, Eltayeb AE, Tsujimoto H (2011a) Effects of the cytidine analogue zebularine on wheat mitotic chromosomes. Chromosome Sci 14:23–28

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cho S-W, Moritama Y, Ishii T, Kishii M, Tanaka H, Eltayeb AE, Tsujimoto H (2011b) Homology of two alien chromosomes during meiosis in wheat. Chromosome Sci 14:45–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox TS, Sears RG, Bequette RK, Martin TJ (1995) Germplasm enhancement in winter wheat x Triticum tauschii backcross populations. Crop Sci 35:913–919

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curtis T, Halford NG (2014) Food security: the challenge of increasing wheat yield and the importance of not compromising food safety. Ann Appl Biol 164:354–372

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dear PH (2001) Genome mapping. Encyclopedia of life science. Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group www.els.net

  • Dreccer F, Ogbonnaya FC, Borgognone G (2004) Sodium exclusion in primary synthetic wheats. Proc XI Wheat Breed Assembly:118–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Eastwood RF, Lagudah ES, Appels R (1994) A direct search for DNA sequences tightly linked to cereal cyst nematode resistance genes in Triticum tauschii. Genome 37:311–319

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fan X, Sha LN, Yang RW, Zhang HQ, Kang HY, Ding CB, Zhang L, Zheng YL, Zhou YH (2009) Phylogeny and evolutionary history of Leymus (Triticeae; Poaceae) based on a single copy nuclear gene encoding plastid acetyl-CoA carboxylase. BMC Evol Biol 9:247

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • FAOstat (2007) The statistics division, food and agriculture organization of the United Nations, Rome. http://faostat.fao.org

  • Garg M, Tanaka H, Ishikawa N, Tanaka K, Yanaka M, Tsujimoto H (2009) Agropyron elongatum HMW-glutenins have a potential to improve wheat end-product quality through targeted chromosome introgression. Breed Sci 50:358–363

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gatford KT, Hearnden P, Ogbonnaya F, Eastwood RF, Halloran GM (2002) Novel resistance to pre-harvest sprouting in Australian wheat from the wild relative Triticum tauschii. Euphytica 126:67–76

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Habora MEE, Eltayeb AE, Tsujimoto H, Tanaka K (2012) Identification of drought stress responsive genes from Leymus mollis, a wild relative of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Breed Sci 62:78–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagras AA, Kishii M, Sato K, Tanaka H, Tsujimoto H (2005) Extended application of barley EST markers for analysis of alien chromosomes added to wheat genetic background. Breed Sci 55:335–341

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang J, Friebe B, Gill BS (1994) Recent advances in alien gene transfer in wheat. Euphytica 73:199–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • St. John L, Ogle DG, Stannard M, Pavek P (2010) Plant guide for mammoth wild rye (Leymus racemosus). USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Aberdeen, ID Plant Materials Center

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaur P, Larson SR, Bushman BS, Wang RRC, Mott IW, Hole D, Thimmapuram J, Gong G, Liu L (2008) Genes controlling plant growth habit in Leymus (Triticeae): maize barren stalk1 (ba1), rice lax panicle, and wheat tiller inhibition (tin3) genes as possible candidates. Funct Integr Genomics 8:375–386

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kihara H (1944) Discovery of the DD-analyser, one of the ancestors of Triticum vulgare (abstr). Agric Hortic 19:889–890 (in Japanese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kihara H (1966) Factors affecting the evolution of common wheat. Indian J Genet 26A:14–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Kikuchi S, Saito Y, Ryuto H, Fukunishi N, Abe T, Tanaka H, Tsujimoto H (2009) Effects of heavy-ion beams on chromosomes of common wheat, Triticum aestivum. Mutat Res/Fund Mol Mech Mutagen 669:63–66

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kishii M (2011) Production of wheat-Leymus racemosus translocation lines. Wheat Inf Serv 111:11–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Kishii M, Yamada T, Sasakuma T, Tsujimoto H (2004) Production of wheat-Leymus racemosus chromosome addition lines. Theor Appl Genet 109:255–260

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kishii M, Ban T, Subbarao GV, Ortiz-Monasterio I (2008) Transferring of the biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) character from Leymus racemosus to wheat. In: Appels R, Eastwook R, Laguday E, Langridge P, Mackay M, McIntyre L, Sharp P (eds) Proceedings of the 11th Int Wheat Genetics Symposium. Brisbane, Australia, pp 226–227

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson SR, Kellog EA (2009) Genetic dissection of seed production traits and identification of a major-effect seed retention QTL in hybrid Leymus (Triticeae) wild ryes. Crop Sci 49:29–40

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Larson SR, Mayland HF (2007) Comparative mapping of fiber, protein, and mineral content QTLs in two interspecific Leymus wildrye full-sib families. Mol Breed 20:331–347

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Larson SR, Wu XL, Jones TA, Jensen KB, Chatterton NJ, Waldron BL, Robins JG, Bushman BS, Palazzo AJ (2006) Comparative mapping of growth habit, plant height, and flowering QTLs in two interspecific families of Leymus. Crop Sci 46:2526–2539

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Larson SR, Kishii M, Tsujimoto H, Qi LL, Chen PD, Lazo GR, Jensen KB, Wang RR-C (2012) Leymus EST linkage maps identify 4NsL-5NsL reciprocal translocation, wheat–Leymus chromosome introgressions, and functionally important gene loci. Theor Appl Genet 124:189–206

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J, Chang Z, Zhang X, Yang Z, Li X, Jia J, Zhan H, Guo H, Wang J (2013) Putative Thinopyrum intermedium-derived stripe rust resistance gene Yr50 maps on wheat chromosome arm 4BL. Theor Appl Genet 126:265–274

    Google Scholar 

  • Lobell DB, Schlenker W, Cost-Roberts J (2011) Climate trends and global crop production since 1980. Science 333:616–620

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Löve A (1984) Conspectus of the Triticeae. Feddes Repert 95:425–521

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu RJ, Chen PD, Liu DJ (1995) Transfer of useful germplasm from Leymus racemosus Lam to common wheat. IV. Development of double alien disomic addition and substitution lines by anther culture. J Nanjing Agric Univ 18:1–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Marais GF, Marais AS (1994) The derivation of compensating translocations involving homoeologous group 3 chromosomes of wheat and rye. Euphytica 79:75–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martín-Sánchez JA, Gómez-Colmenarejo M, Del Moral J, Sin E, Montes MJ, González-Belinchón C, López-Braña I, Delibes A (2003) A new Hessian fly resistance gene (H30) transferred from the wild grass Aegilops triuncialis to hexaploid wheat. Theor Appl Genet 106:1248–1255

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McFadden ES, Sears ER (1944) The artificial synthesis of Triticum spelta. Rec Genet Soc Am 13:26–27

    Google Scholar 

  • McGuire PE, Dvorak J (1981) High salt-tolerance potential in wheat grasses. Crop Sci 21:702–705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohammed YSA, Eltayeb AE, Tsujimoto H (2013) Enhancement of aluminum tolerance in wheat by addition of chromosomes from the wild relative Leymus racemosus. Breed Sci 63:407–416

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mohammed YSA, Tahir ISA, Kamal NM, Eltayeb AE, Ali AM, Tsujimoto H (2014) Impact of wheat-Leymus racemosus added chromosomes on wheat adaptation and tolerance to heat stress. Breed Sci 63:450–460

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Monsen S, Stevens R, Shaw N (2004) Grasses. USDA forest service Gen. Technical report. RMRS-GTR-136, pp 199–294

    Google Scholar 

  • Mujeeb-Kazi A, Rodriguez R (1981) An intergeneric hybrid of Triticum aestivum L. X Elymus giganteus. J Hered 72:253–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Mujeeb-Kazi A, Bernard M, Bekele GT, Minard JL (1983) Incorporation of alien genetic information from Elymus giganteus into Triticum aestivum. In: Sakamoto S (ed) Proceedings of the 6th International wheat genetic symposium, Kyoto, pp 223–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogbonnaya FC, Abdalla O, Mujeeb-Kazi A, Kazi AG, Xu SS, Gosman N, Lagudah ES, Bonnett D, Sorrells ME, Tsujimoto Hisashi (2013) Synthetic hexaploids: harnessing species of the primary gene pool for wheat improvement. Plant Breed Rev 37:35–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-de-Castro AM, Vilanova S, Cañizares J, Pascual L, Blanca JM, Díez MJ, Prohens J Picó B (2012) Application of genomic tools in plant breeding. Curr Genomics 13:179–195

    Google Scholar 

  • PLANTS Database. Conservation plant characteristics for Leymus racemosus. http://plants.usda.gov. Accessed 25 Aug 2010

  • Qi LL, Wang S, Chen PD, Liu DJ, Friebe B, Gill BS (1997) Molecular cytogenetic analysis of Leymus racemosus chromosomes added to wheat. Theor Appl Genet 95:1084–1109

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Qi LL, Friebe B, Zhang P, Gill BS (2007) Homoeologous recombination, chromosome engineering and crop improvement. Chromosome Res 15:3–19

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Qi LL, Pumphrey MO, Friebe B, Chen PD, Gill BS (2008) Molecular cytogenetic characterization of alien introgressions with gene Fhb3 for resistance to Fusarium head blight disease of wheat. Theor Appl Genet 117:1155–1166

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reif JC, Zhang P, Dreisigacker S, Warburton ML, van Ginkel M, Hoisington D, Bohn M, Melchinger AE (2005) Wheat genetic diversity trends during domestication and breeding. Theor Appl Genet 110:859–864

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ren XQ, Sun WX, Chen PD, Liu DJ (1996) Development and identification of T. aestivum-L. racemosus addition lines. J Nanjing Agric Univ 19:1–5

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Subbarao GV, Ban T, Kishii M, Ito O, Samejima H, Wang HY, Pearse SJ, Gopalakrishnan S, Nakahara K, Tsujimoto H, Berry HW (2007) Can biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) genes from perennial Leymus racemosus (Triticeae) combat nitrification in wheat farming? Plant Soil 299:55–64

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun WX, Chen PD, Liu DJ (1997) Transfer of useful germplasm from, Leymus racemosus Lam. to common wheat. V. Development and identification of three T. aestivum-L. racemosus disomic addition lines. J Nanjing Agric Univ 20:6–11 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun WX, Chen PD, Liu DJ (1998) Transfer of useful germplasm from Leymus racemosus Lam. to common wheat. VI. Development and identification of T. aestivum-L. racemosus telosomic addition lines. Acta Genet Sinica 25:259–264 (in Chinese)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang LS, Chen PD (2008) Development of Triticum aestivum–Leymus racemosus ditelosomic substitution line 7Lr#1S (7A) with resistance to wheat scab and its meiotic behavior analysis. Chin Sci Bull 53:3522–3529

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang RR-C, Jensen KB (1994) Absence of the J genome in Leymus species (Poaceae: Triticeae): evidence from DNA hybridization and meiotic pairing. Genome 37:231–235

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang YN, Chen PD, Liu DJ (1986) Transfer of useful germplasm from E. giganteus to common wheat. I. Production of wheat E. giganteus hybrids. J Nanjing Agric Univ 1:10–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang YN, Chen PD, Wang ZT, Liu DA (1991) Transfer of useful germplasm from E. giganteus to common wheat. II. Cytogenetics and scab resistance of backcross derivatives. J Nanjing Agric Univ 14:1–5

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang RRC, von Bothmer R, Dvorak J, Linde-Laursen I, Muramatsu M (1994) Genome symbols in the Triticeae (Poaceae). In: Wang et al (eds) Proceedings of the second international Triticeae symposium. Utah State University Press, Logan, pp 29–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang RRC, Zhang JY, Lee B, Jensen KB, Kishii M, Tsujimoto H (2006) Variations in abundance of two repetitive sequences in Leymus and Psathyrostachys species. Genome 49:511–519

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang S, Yin L, Tanaka H, Tanaka K, Tsujimoto H (2010) Identification of wheat alien chromosome addition lines for breeding wheat with high phosphorus efficiency. Breed Sci 60:372–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu XL, Larson SR, Hu ZM, Palazzo AJ, Jones TA, Wang RRC, Jensen KB, Chatterton NJ (2003) Molecular genetic linkage maps for allotetraploid Leymus (Triticeae). Genome 46:627–646

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Y, Liu DL, Anwar MR, Zuo H, Yang Y (2014) Impact of future climate change on wheat production in relation to plant-available water capacity in a semiarid environment. Theor Appl Climatol 115:391–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang HB, Dvorak J (1991) The genome origin of tetraploid species of Leymus (Poaceae: Triticeae) inferred from variation in repeated nucleotide sequences. Am J Bot 78:871–884

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. M. Kishii, CIMMYT, who gave us valuable information about L. racemosus addition lines.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, 1390 Hamasaka, Tottori, 680-0001, Japan

    Yasir Serag Alnor Gorafi & Hisashi Tsujimoto

  2. Agricultural Research Corporation, PO Box 126, Wad Medani, Sudan

    Yasir Serag Alnor Gorafi

Authors
  1. Yasir Serag Alnor Gorafi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hisashi Tsujimoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hisashi Tsujimoto .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Delhi University, Delhi, India

    Vijay Rani Rajpal

  2. Dept. of Biotech and Bioinformatics, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Megalaya, India

    S. Rama Rao

  3. Amity University of Biotechnology, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

    S.N. Raina

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Gorafi, Y.S.A., Tsujimoto, H. (2016). Leymus racemosus: A Potential Species of Gene Pool Enrichment for Wheat Improvement. In: Rajpal, V., Rao, S., Raina, S. (eds) Gene Pool Diversity and Crop Improvement. Sustainable Development and Biodiversity, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27096-8_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation