USWBSI Abstract Viewer

2024 National Fusarium Head Blight Forum


Variety Development and Host Resistance (VDHR)

Invited Presenter

Genotyping to Improve Scab Resistance

Authors & Affiliations:

Gina Brown-Guedira 1, Jason Fiedler 2, Guihua Bai 3, Katherine Jordan 3, and Deven See 4
1. USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit
2. USDA-ARS Cereal Crop Improvement Research Unit
3. USDA-ARS Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research Unit
4. USDA-ARS Wheat Health, Genetics and Quality Research

Presenting Author:

Gina Brown-Guedira
gina.brown-guedira@usda.gov

Abstract:

The USDA-ARS Small Grains Genotyping Labs (SGGLs) provide researchers with access to advances in genotyping technology, playing an integral role in enhancing wheat resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB). Early genotyping relied heavily on PCR-based methods requiring fragment separation of one or a few markers at a time. While time-consuming and expensive, this work led to identification of the Fhb1 locus and development of predictive markers that have been crucial to marker-assisted improvement of scab resistance. The high-throughput and cost-effective Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) technology is now used for single-plex tracking of cloned resistance genes Fhb1 and Fhb7, markers associated with other FHB resistance QTL, and genes affecting a variety of other traits. Trait related markers and genome-wide variants are also genotyped using the new Illumina 3K multi-species and AgriSeq wheat targeted genotyping platforms designed by the SGGLs. Adoption of high-throughput genotyping techniques such as the Diversity Array Technologies (DArT), Illumina Infinity arrays and the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) technology, enabled the rapid analysis of thousands of SNP in large populations. These techniques facilitated association and QTL mapping studies in diverse sources of FHB resistance, including adapted cultivars (ie. NC-Neuse and Jamestown). Although these studies have generally not detected QTL of large effect, tools for integration of genomic data with phenotypic observations led to the deployment of the genomic selection (GS) breeding strategy. Collaborative FHB evaluation and data sharing across the Northern and Southern VDHR groups and the centralized genotyping done at the Raleigh SGGL fostered the development of regionally and locally useful training populations in the eastern soft wheat region. Genomic estimated breeding values obtained for FHB resistance traits now contribute to advancement decisions in breeding populations, as well as parent selection and prediction of cross performance. The continued reduction of next generation sequencing costs is further democratizing wheat researcher’s access to genomic data. In addition to sequencing the exomes of more than 400 US wheat lines to build a database of variants in genes, the SGGLs are using long read sequencing to assemble whole genomes of FHB resistant lines, including locally relevant US cultivars. These efforts are contributing to development of a haplotype database to facilitate identifying and validating haplotypes/genes associated with resistance. Continued investment in new resources and technologies for genotyping will enable more precise methods to develop superior wheat cultivars with improved FHB resistance.


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