Dataset Information

Phenotyping of field-grown wheat in the UK highlights contribution of light response of photosynthesis and flag leaf longevity to grain yield.

ABSTRACT: Improving photosynthesis is a major target for increasing crop yields and ensuring food security. Phenotyping of photosynthesis in the field is critical to understand the limits to crop performance in agricultural settings. Yet, detailed phenotyping of photosynthetic traits is relatively scarce in field-grown wheat, with previous studies focusing on narrow germplasm selections. Flag leaf photosynthetic traits, crop development, and yield traits were compared in 64 field-grown wheat cultivars in the UK. Pre-anthesis and post-anthesis photosynthetic traits correlated significantly and positively with grain yield and harvest index (HI). These traits included net CO2 assimilation measured at ambient CO2 concentrations and a range of photosynthetic photon flux densities, and traits associated with the light response of photosynthesis. In most cultivars, photosynthesis decreased post-anthesis compared with pre-anthesis, and this was associated with decreased Rubisco activity and abundance. Heritability of photosynthetic traits suggests that phenotypic variation can be used to inform breeding programmes. Specific cultivars were identified with traits relevant to breeding for increased crop yields in the UK: pre-anthesis photosynthesis, post-anthesis photosynthesis, light response of photosynthesis, and Rubisco amounts. The results indicate that flag leaf longevity and operating photosynthetic activity in the canopy can be further exploited to maximize grain filling in UK bread wheat.

SUBMITTER: Carmo-Silva E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5853948 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Flag-leaf-related traits including length (FLL), width (FLW), area (FLA), thickness (FLT), and volume (FLV) of flag leaves are the most important determinants of plant architecture and yield in wheat. Understanding the genetic basis of these traits could accelerate the breeding of high yield wheat varieties. In this study, we constructed a doubled haploid (DH) population and analyzed flag-leaf-related traits in five experimental locations/years using the wheat 90K single-nucleotide polymorphism array. It's worth noting that a novel method was used to measure FLT and FLV easily. Leaf thickness at two-thirds of the leaf length from tip to collar represented the average leaf thickness as measured with freehand sections and was used to calculate the leaf volume. In addition, flag-leaf-related traits showed positive correlations with yield related traits under two different water regimes. A total of 79 quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling the five traits were detected among all chromosomes except 4D and 5A, explaining 3.09-14.52% of the phenotypic variation. Among them, 15 stable QTL were identified in more than three environments, including two major QTL for FLT, six for FLW, three for FLA, two for FLT and two for FLV. DH lines with positive alleles at both QTL regions had an average FLL (9.90%), FLW (32.87%), FLT (6.62%), FLA (18.47%), and FLV (20.87%) greater than lines with contrasting alleles. QFLT-2B, QFLV-2A, and QFLV-7D were co-located with yield-related traits. The 15 QTL were validated by tightly linked kompetitive allele specific PCR (KASP) markers in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from a different cross. QFLL-4A, QFLW-4B, QFLA-5D.1, QFLA-7A, QFLA-7D.1, QFLT-2B, QFLT-6A, QFLV-2A, and QFLV-7D are likely novel loci. These results provide a better understanding of the genetic basis underlying flag-leaf-related traits. Also, target regions for fine mapping and marker-assisted selection were identified and these will be valuable for breeding high yielding bread wheat.

Project description:BackgroundWheat (Triticum aestivum L.) serves as important grain crop widely cultivated in the world, which is often suffered by drought stress in natural conditions. As one of the most important post translation modifications, protein phosphorylation widely participates in plant abiotic stress regulation. In this study, we performed the first comparative analysis of phosphorylated protein characterization in flag leaves and developing grains of elite Chinese bread wheat cultivar Zhongmai 175 under water deficit by combining with proteomic approach and Pro-Q Diamond gel staining.ResultsField experiment showed that water deficit caused significant reduction of plant height, tiller number, ear length and grain yield. 2-DE and Pro-Q Diamond gel staining analysis showed that 58 proteins were phosphorylated among 112 differentially accumulated proteins in response to water deficit, including 20 in the flag leaves and 38 in the developing grains. The phosphorylated proteins from flag leaves mainly involved in photosynthesis, carbohydrate and energy metabolism, while those from developing grains were closely related with detoxification and defense, protein, carbohydrate and energy metabolism. Particularly, water deficit resulted in significant downregulation of phosphorylated modification level in the flag leaves, which could affect photosynthesis and grain yield. However, some important phosphorylated proteins involved in stress defense, energy metabolism and starch biosynthesis were upregulated under water deficit, which could benefit drought tolerance, accelerate grain filling and shorten grain developing time.ConclusionsThe modification level of those identified proteins from flag leaves and grains had great changes when wheat was suffered from water deficit, indicating that phosphoproteins played a key role in response to drought stress. Our results provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms how phosphoproteins respond to drought stress and thus reduce production.

Dataset Information

Phenotyping of field-grown wheat in the UK highlights contribution of light response of photosynthesis and flag leaf longevity to grain yield.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets