Population genomic analysis of Aegilops tauschii identifies targets for bread wheat improvement

Aegilops tauschii, the diploid wild progenitor of the D subgenome of bread wheat, is a reservoir of genetic diversity for improving bread wheat performance and environmental resilience. Here we sequenced 242 Ae. tauschii accessions and compared them to the wheat D subgenome to characterize genomic diversity. We found that a rare lineage of Ae. tauschii geographically restricted to present-day Georgia contributed to the wheat D subgenome in the independent hybridizations that gave rise to modern bread wheat. Through k-mer-based association mapping, we identified discrete genomic regions with candidate genes for disease and pest resistance and demonstrated their functional transfer into wheat by transgenesis and wide crossing, including the generation of a library of hexaploids incorporating diverse Ae. tauschii genomes. Exploiting the genomic diversity of the Ae. tauschii ancestral diploid genome permits rapid trait discovery and functional genetic validation in a hexaploid background amenable to breeding.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gaurav, Kumar, Sanu Arora, Silva, Paula, Sánchez Martín, Javier, Horsnell, Richard, Liangliang Gao, Brar, Gurcharn S., Widrig, Victoria, Raupp, W. John, Shuangye Wu, Singh, Narinder, Sandip Kale, Chinoy, Catherine, Nicholson, Paul, Quiroz Chávez, Jesús, Simmonds, James, Hayta, Sadiye, Smedley, Mark A., Harwood, Wendy, Pearce, Suzannah, Gilbert, David, Ngonidzashe Kangara, Gardener, Catherine, Forner-Martínez, Macarena, Jiaqian Liu, Guotai Yu, Boden, Scott A., Pascucci, Attilio, Ghosh, Sreya, Hafeez, Amber N., O’Hara, Tom, Waites, Joshua, Cheema, Jitender, Steuernagel, Burkhard, Patpour, Mehran, Justesen, Annemarie Fejer, Shuyu Liu, Rudd, Jackie C., Avni, Raz, Sharon, Amir, Steiner, Barbara, Kirana, Rizky Pasthika, Buerstmayr, Hermann, Mehrabi, Ali A., Nasyrova, Firuza Y., Chayut, Noam, Matny, Oadi, Steffenson, Brian J., Sandhu, Nitika, Chhuneja, Parveen, Lagudah, Evans S., Elkot, Ahmed F., Tyrrell, Simon, Xingdong Bian, Davey, Robert P., Simonsen, Martin, Schauser, Leif, Tiwari, Vijay Kumar, Kutcher, H. Randy, Hucl, Pierre J., Aili Li, Dengcai Liu, Long Mao, Xu, Steven, Brown-Guedira, Gina, Faris, Justin, Dvorak, Jan, Ming-Cheng Luo, Krasileva, Ksenia, Lux, Thomas, Artmeier, Susanne, Mayer, Klaus F.X., Uauy, Cristobal, Mascher, Martin, Bentley, Alison R., Keller, Beat, Poland, Jesse A., Wulff, Brande B. H.
Format: Journal Article biblioteca
Language:English
Published: Springer 2022-03
Subjects:population genetics, aegilops, plant breeding, crop improvement, soft wheat, wheat, biomedical engineering, bioengineering, biotechnology,
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/126588
https://hdl.handle.net/10883/21731
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-01058-4
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Aegilops tauschii, the diploid wild progenitor of the D subgenome of bread wheat, is a reservoir of genetic diversity for improving bread wheat performance and environmental resilience. Here we sequenced 242 Ae. tauschii accessions and compared them to the wheat D subgenome to characterize genomic diversity. We found that a rare lineage of Ae. tauschii geographically restricted to present-day Georgia contributed to the wheat D subgenome in the independent hybridizations that gave rise to modern bread wheat. Through k-mer-based association mapping, we identified discrete genomic regions with candidate genes for disease and pest resistance and demonstrated their functional transfer into wheat by transgenesis and wide crossing, including the generation of a library of hexaploids incorporating diverse Ae. tauschii genomes. Exploiting the genomic diversity of the Ae. tauschii ancestral diploid genome permits rapid trait discovery and functional genetic validation in a hexaploid background amenable to breeding.