title: Transfer of useful variability of high grain iron and zinc from Aegilops kotschyi into wheat through seed irradiation approach.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To transfer the 2S chromosomal fragment(s) of Aegilops kotschyi (2S(k)) into the bread wheat genome which could lead to the biofortification of wheat with high grain iron and zinc content.
  
  
  METHODS
  Wheat-Ae. kotschyi 2A/2S(k) substitution lines with high grain iron and zinc content were used to transfer the gene/loci for high grain Fe and Zn content into wheat using seed irradiation approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bread wheat plants derived from 40 krad-irradiated seeds showed the presence of univalents and multivalents during meiotic metaphase-I. Genomic in situ hybridization analysis of seed irradiation hybrid F2 seedlings showed several terminal and interstitial signals indicated the introgression of Ae. kotschyi chromosome segments. This proves the efficacy of seed radiation hybrid approach in gene transfer experiments. All the radiation-treated hybrid plants with high grain Fe and Zn content were analyzed with wheat group 2 chromosome-specific polymorphic simple sequence repeat markers to identify the introgression of small alien chromosome fragment(s).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Radiation-induced hybrids showed more than 65% increase in grain iron and 54% increase in Zn contents with better harvest index than the elite wheat cultivar WL711 indicating effective and compensating translocations of 2S(k) fragments into wheat genome.
authors.affiliation: a School of Life Sciences , Central University of Himachal Pradesh , Dharamshala, Kangra , Himachal Pradesh ;|b Department of Biotechnology , Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee , Roorkee , Uttarakhand ;
authors.forename: Shailender Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.affiliation: b Department of Biotechnology , Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee , Roorkee , Uttarakhand ;
authors.forename: Satish
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: c Akal College of Agriculture , Eternal University , Baru-Sahib , Sirmour , Himachal Pradesh ;
authors.forename: Imran
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.affiliation: d Department of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities , G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology , Pantnagar , Uttarakhand , India.
authors.forename: Sachin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: d Department of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities , G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology , Pantnagar , Uttarakhand , India.
authors.forename: Priyanka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mathpal
authors.affiliation: c Akal College of Agriculture , Eternal University , Baru-Sahib , Sirmour , Himachal Pradesh ;
authors.forename: Vishal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chugh
authors.affiliation: d Department of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities , G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology , Pantnagar , Uttarakhand , India.
authors.forename: Sundip
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: b Department of Biotechnology , Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee , Roorkee , Uttarakhand ;
authors.forename: Ramasare
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.affiliation: c Akal College of Agriculture , Eternal University , Baru-Sahib , Sirmour , Himachal Pradesh ;
authors.forename: Harcharan Singh
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Dhaliwal
mesh_terms: D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D024861:Genetic Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000502:physiology; D006109:Poaceae / Q000502:physiology*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012639:Seeds / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014908:Triticum / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D007501:Iron; D015032:Zinc
keywords: Biofortification; iron; seed irradiation; wheat; zinc