QTL Mapping and Candidate Gene Identifying for N, P, and K Use Efficiency at the Maturity Stages in Wheat

Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are the three most important mineral nutrients for crop growth and development. We previously constructed a genetic map of unigenes (UG-Map) based on their physical positions using a RIL population derived from the cross of “TN18 × LM6” (TL-RILs). In this study, a total of 18 traits related to mineral use efficiency (MUE) of N/P/K were investigated under three growing seasons using TL-RILs. A total of 54 stable QTLs were detected, distributed across 19 chromosomes except for 3A and 5B. There were 50 QTLs associated with only one trait, and the other four QTLs were associated with two traits. A total of 73 candidate genes for stable QTLs were identified. Of these, 50 candidate genes were annotated in Chinese Spring (CS) RefSeq v1.1. The average number of candidate genes per QTL was 1.35, with 45 QTLs containing only one candidate gene and nine QTLs containing two or more candidate genes. The candidate gene TraesCS6D02G132100 (TaPTR gene) for QGnc-6D-3306 belongs to the NPF (NRT1/PTR) gene family. We speculate that the TaPTR gene should regulate the GNC trait.