title: Ancestral QTL Alleles from Wild Emmer Wheat Improve Drought Resistance and Productivity in Modern Wheat Cultivars.
abstract: Wild emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides) is considered a promising source for improving stress resistances in domesticated wheat. Here we explored the potential of selected quantitative trait loci (QTLs) from wild emmer wheat, introgressed via marker-assisted selection, to enhance drought resistance in elite durum (T. turgidum ssp. durum) and bread (T. aestivum) wheat cultivars. The resultant near-isogenic lines (BC3F3 and BC3F4) were genotyped using SNP array to confirm the introgressed genomic regions and evaluated in two consecutive years under well-watered (690-710 mm) and water-limited (290-320 mm) conditions. Three of the introgressed QTLs were successfully validated, two in the background of durum wheat cv. Uzan (on chromosomes 1BL and 2BS), and one in the background of bread wheat cvs. Bar Nir and Zahir (chromosome 7AS). In most cases, the QTL x environment interaction was validated in terms of improved grain yield and biomass-specifically under drought (7AS QTL in cv. Bar Nir background), under both treatments (2BS QTL), and a greater stability across treatments (1BL QTL). The results provide a first demonstration that introgression of wild emmer QTL alleles can enhance productivity and yield stability across environments in domesticated wheat, thereby enriching the modern gene pool with essential diversity for the improvement of drought resistance.
authors.affiliation: The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: Lianne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Merchuk-Ovnat
authors.affiliation: The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: Vered
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Barak
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolution and Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Tzion
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fahima
authors.affiliation: Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Julius Kuehn-Institute, Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance Quedlinburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ordon
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolution and Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Gabriel A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Lidzbarsky
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolution and Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Krugman
authors.affiliation: The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: Yehoshua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saranga
keywords: Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides; interspecific introgression; marker-assisted selection; near-isogenic line; quantitative trait locus; water stress; wheat; yield