Cross-genome map based dissection of a nitrogen use efficiency ortho-metaQTL in bread wheat unravels concerted cereal genome evolution.
Monitoring nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in plants is becoming essential to maintain yield while reducing fertilizer usage. Optimized NUE application in major crops is essential for long-term sustainability of agriculture production. Here, we report the precise identification of 11 major chromosomal regions controlling NUE in wheat that co-localise with key developmental genes such as Ppd (photoperiod sensitivity), Vrn (vernalization requirement), Rht (reduced height) and can be considered as robust markers from a molecular breeding perspective. Physical mapping, sequencing, annotation and candidate gene validation of an NUE metaQTL on wheat chromosome 3B allowed us to propose that a glutamate synthase (GoGAT) gene that is conserved structurally and functionally at orthologous positions in rice, sorghum and maize genomes may contribute to NUE in wheat and other cereals. We propose an evolutionary model for the NUE locus in cereals from a common ancestral region, involving species specific shuffling events such as gene deletion, inversion, transposition and the invasion of repetitive elements.
INRA/Université Blaise Pascal UMR 1095 GDEC, Domaine de Crouelle, 234 Avenue du Brézet, 63100 Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Umar Masood
UM
Quraishi
Michael
M
Abrouk
Florent
F
Murat
Caroline
C
Pont
Séverine
S
Foucrier
Gregory
G
Desmaizieres
Carole
C
Confolent
Nathalie
N
Rivière
Gilles
G
Charmet
Etienne
E
Paux
Alain
A
Murigneux
Laurent
L
Guerreiro
Stéphane
S
Lafarge
Jacques
J
Le Gouis
Catherine
C
Feuillet
Jerome
J
Salse
D032461:Chromosomes, Plant; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018745:Genome, Plant; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D020161:Physical Chromosome Mapping; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D026801:Synteny; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D018744:DNA, Plant; D009584:Nitrogen