Objective 6 - Simon Griffiths (JIC)

New Mapping populations will align WGIN with the international wheat genome sequencing effort

A complementary resource that will be developed at JIC will be two highly polymorphic recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations. Paragon x Chinese Spring and Paragon x JIC Synthetic will exist purely as mapping populations and greatly assist in the assignment of new markers and their paralogues to the genetic map of wheat. The elite UK spring wheat, Paragon, was chosen because it is a key parent for existing WGIN resources including the EMS, and gamma mutant populations and a recipient parent in the proposed NIL programme. Chinese Spring was chosen because there are more resources, Worldwide, associated with this genotype than any other. These resources include: aneuploid stocks, which allow the physical assignment of loci to chromosomes and physical sections of chromosomes with no requirement for polymorphism; large insert genomic libraries for the recovery of specific genomic segments up to 150 kb; and the largest collection of expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Moreover, Chinese Spring will be the first variety of wheat to be fully sequenced. The Chinese Spring x Paragon RIL population will be one vehicle by which UK wheat researchers can tap into the resources of the international wheat sequencing effort. This population will complement the Chinese Spring x Renan population under development as part of the EU Framework 7 Triticeae Genome project. When complete, the Chinese Spring X Renan population will also be available for use, as will large insert libraries for both Chinese Spring and Renan. The Paragon x Synthetic population will be produced purely to benefit from the high level of nucleotide polymorphism expected in this cross.

Akbari, M., Wenzl, P., Caig, V., Carling, J., Xia, L., Yang, S.Y., Uszynski, G., Mohler, V., Lehmensiek, A., Kuchel, H., Hayden, M.J., Howes, N., Sharp, P., Vaughan, P., Rathmell, B., Huttner, E., and Kilian, A. (2006). Diversity arrays technology (DArT) for high-throughput profiling of the hexaploid wheat genome. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 113, 1409-1420.
Dyck, P.L. (1994). Genetics of Leaf Rust Resistance in 13 Accessions of the Watkins Wheat Collection. Euphytica 80, 151-155.
Griffiths, S., Sharp, R., Foote, T.N., Bertin, I., Wanous, M., Reader, S., Colas, I., and Moore, G. (2006). Molecular characterization of Ph1 as a major chromosome pairing locus in polyploid wheat. Nature 439, 749-752.
Reynolds, M.P., Calderini, D.F., Condon, A.G., and Rajaram, S. (2001). Physiological basis of yield gains in wheat associated with the LR19 translocation from Agropyron elongatum. Euphytica 119, 137-141.
Snape, J.W., Foulkes, M.J., Simmonds, J., Leverington, M., Fish, L.J., Wang, Y., and Ciavarrella, M. (2007). Dissecting gene x environmental effects on wheat yields via QTL and physiological analysis. Euphytica 154, 401-408.