Genetic and physical mapping of anther extrusion in elite European winter wheat

The production and cultivation of hybrid wheat is a possible strategy to close the yield gap in wheat. Efficient hybrid wheat seed production largely depends on high rates of cross-pollination which can be ensured through high anther extrusion (AE) by male parental lines. Here, we report the AE capacity and elucidate its genetics in 514 elite European winter wheat varieties via genome-wide association studies (GWAS). We observed a wide range of variation among genotypes and a high heritability (0.80) for AE. The whole panel was genotyped with the 35k Affymetrix and 90k iSELECT single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays plus Ppd-D1, Rht-B1 and Rht-D1 candidate markers. GWAS revealed 51 marker-trait associations (MTAs) on chromosomes 1A, 1B, 2A, 4D and 5B, with Rht-D1 (4D) being the most significant marker. Division of whole panel according to the Rht-D1 genotype resulted in 212 and 294 varieties harboring Rht-D1a and Rht-D1b allele, respectively. The presence of Rht-D1a compared to Rht-D1b (mutant) allele had a large phenotypic influence on AE resulting in its ~17% increase. GWAS performed on the sub-panels detected novel MTAs on chromosomes 2D, 3B and 6A with increased phenotypic variance imparted by individual markers. Our study shows that AE is a highly quantitative trait and wild type Rht-D1a allele greatly improves AE. Moreover, demarcating the quantitative trait loci regions based on intra-chromosomal linkage disequilibrium revealed AE’s candidate genes/genomic regions. Understanding the genetics of AE in elite European wheat and utilizing the linked markers in breeding programs can help to enhance cross-pollination for better exploitation of heterosis.