title: Molecular basis of adaptation to high soil boron in wheat landraces and elite cultivars.
abstract: Environmental constraints severely restrict crop yields in most production environments, and expanding the use of variation will underpin future progress in breeding. In semi-arid environments boron toxicity constrains productivity, and genetic improvement is the only effective strategy for addressing the problem. Wheat breeders have sought and used available genetic diversity from landraces to maintain yield in these environments; however, the identity of the genes at the major tolerance loci was unknown. Here we describe the identification of near-identical, root-specific boron transporter genes underlying the two major-effect quantitative trait loci for boron tolerance in wheat, Bo1 and Bo4 (ref. 2). We show that tolerance to a high concentration of boron is associated with multiple genomic changes including tetraploid introgression, dispersed gene duplication, and variation in gene structure and transcript level. An allelic series was identified from a panel of bread and durum wheat cultivars and landraces originating from diverse agronomic zones. Our results demonstrate that, during selection, breeders have matched functionally different boron tolerance alleles to specific environments. The characterization of boron tolerance in wheat illustrates the power of the new wheat genomic resources to define key adaptive processes that have underpinned crop improvement.
authors.affiliation: 1] Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia 5064, Australia [2].
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pallotta
authors.affiliation: 1] Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia 5064, Australia [2] Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Genebank Department, Corrensstrasse 3, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany [3].
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schnurbusch
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia 5064, Australia.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia 5064, Australia.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hay
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia 5064, Australia.
authors.forename: Ute
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Baumann
authors.affiliation: School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia 5064, Australia.
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paull
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia 5064, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Langridge
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia 5064, Australia.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sutton
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D000483:Alleles; D001895:Boron / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D020440:Gene Duplication / Q000235:genetics; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011123:Polyploidy; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D014908:Triticum / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018749:RNA, Plant; D012987:Soil; D001895:Boron