Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jul 20;11(7):e0159371.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159371. eCollection 2016.

The Genetic Control of Grain Protein Content under Variable Nitrogen Supply in an Australian Wheat Mapping Population

Saba Mahjourimajd  1 , Julian Taylor  2 , Zed Rengel  3 , Hossein Khabaz-Saberi  3 , Haydn Kuchel  4   2 , Mamoru Okamoto  1 , Peter Langridge  2
Affiliations

The Genetic Control of Grain Protein Content under Variable Nitrogen Supply in an Australian Wheat Mapping Population

Saba Mahjourimajd et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Genetic variation has been observed in both protein concentration in wheat grain and total protein content (protein yield). Here we describe the genetic analysis of variation for grain protein in response to nitrogen (N) supply and locate significant genomic regions controlling grain protein components in a spring wheat population. In total, six N use efficiency (NUE) field trials were carried out for the target traits in a sub-population of doubled haploid lines derived from a cross between two Australian varieties, RAC875 and Kukri, in Southern and Western Australia from 2011 to 2013. Twenty-four putative Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) for protein-related traits were identified at high and low N supply and ten QTL were identified for the response to N for the traits studied. These loci accounted for a significant proportion of the overall effect of N supply. Several of the regions were co-localised with grain yield QTL and are promising targets for further investigation and selection in breeding programs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The involvement of HK and AGT in the project does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The authors are aware of no impediments to the full and open sharing of all data and materials reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Grain protein concentration (GPC, %) (A) and Protein yield (PY, kg ha-1) (B) of RAC875 and Kukri in nitrogen (N) use efficiency field trials across Australian sites. The vertical error bars represent the standard errors of the predicted means after spatial analysis.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Distribution of doubled haploid lines for grain protein concentration (GPC, %) and protein yield (PY, kg ha-1) at high rate of nitrogen (N) fertilisation at six trial sites in South Australia and Western Australia.
For each site, GPC and PY of RAC875 and Kukri are shown by the positions of the letters R and K, respectively.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Comparison of the loci identified in this study with previous reports of loci associated with grain protein or nitrogen content.
The loci identified in this study are shown on the right of each stylized chromosome while those found in previous studies are labelled as GNC (Grain nitrogen/protein content) on the left. The positions are only approximate since a direct alignment of the loci is not possible since the markers and maps are very different and the studies vary greatly in their level of genetic resolution. The superscript numbers before each GCN loci refer to the reference.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hirel B, Le Gouis J, Ney B, Gallais A. The challenge of improving nitrogen use efficiency in crop plants: towards a more central role for genetic variability and quantitative genetics within integrated approaches. J Exp Bot. 2007; 58: 2369–2387. - PubMed
    1. Bogard M, Jourdan M, Allard V, Martre P, Perretant MR, Ravel C, et al. Anthesis date mainly explained correlations between post-anthesis leaf senescence, grain yield, and grain protein concentration in a winter wheat population segregating for flowering time QTLs. J Exp Bot. 2011; 62: 3621–3636. 10.1093/jxb/err061 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Monaghan JM, Snape JW, Chojecki AJS, Kettlewell PS. The use of grain protein deviation for identifying wheat cultivars with high grain protein concentration and yield. Euphytica. 2001; 122: 309–317.
    1. Oury F-X, Godin C. Yield and grain protein concentration in bread wheat: how to use the negative relationship between the two characters to identify favourable genotypes? Euphytica. 2007; 157: 45–57.
    1. Bogard M, Allard V, Brancourt-Hulmel M, Heumez E, Machet JM, Jeuffroy MH, et al. Deviation from the grain protein concentration–grain yield negative relationship is highly correlated to post-anthesis N uptake in winter wheat. J Exp Bot. 2010; 61: 4303–4312. 10.1093/jxb/erq238 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources