Ivanizs, L, Marcotuli, I., Rakszegi, M., Kalapos, B., Szőke-Pázsi, K., Farkas, A., Türkösi, E., Gaál, E., Kruppa, K., Kovács, P., Darkó, E., Szakács, E., Said, M., Cápal, P., Doležel, J., Gadaleta, A., Molnár, I.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES 23: 3821, 2022

Keywords: Aegilops biuncialis; dietary fiber; β-glucan; DArTseq analysis; genome-wide association study (GWAS)
Abstract: Grain dietary fiber content is an important health-promoting trait of bread wheat. A dominant dietary fiber component of wheat is the cell wall polysaccharide arabinoxylan and the goat-grass Aegilops biuncialis has high β-glucan content, which makes it an attractive gene source to develop wheat lines with modified fiber composition. In order to support introgression breeding, this work examined genetic variability in grain β-glucan, pentosan, and protein content in a collection of Ae. biuncialis. A large variation in grain protein and edible fiber content was revealed, reflecting the origin of Ae. biuncialis accessions from different eco-geographical habitats. Association analysis using DArTseq-derived SNPs identified 34 QTLs associated with β-glucan, pentosan, water-ex-tractable pentosan, and protein content. Mapping the markers to draft chromosome assemblies of diploid progenitors of Ae. biuncialis underlined the role of genes on chromosomes 1M b , 4M b , and 5M b in the formation of grain β-glucan content, while other QTLs on chromosome groups 3, 6, and 1 identified genes responsible for total-and water-extractable pentosan content. Functional annotation of the associated marker sequences identified fourteen genes, nine of which were identified in other monocots. The QTLs and genes identified in the present work are attractive targets for chromosome mediated gene transfer to improve the health-promoting properties of wheat-derived foods.
DOI: 10.3390/ijms23073821
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IEB authors: Petr Cápal, Jaroslav Doležel, Mahmoud Said