Identification of novel genomic regions associated with nine mineral elements in Chinese winter wheat grain

BACKGROUND: Mineral elements are important for maintaining good human health besides heavy metals. Mining genes that control mineral elements are paramount for improving their accumulation in the wheat grain. Although previous studies have reported some loci for beneficial trace elements, they have mainly focused on Zn and Fe content. However, little information is available regarding the genetic loci differences in dissecting synchronous accumulation of multiple mineral elements in wheat grains, including beneficial and heavy elements. Therefore, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on 205 wheat accessions with 24,355 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to identify important loci and candidate genes for controlling Ca, Fe, Zn, Se, Cu, Mn, Cd, As, and Pb accumulation in wheat grains. RESULTS: A total of 101 marker-trait associations (MTAs) (P < 10(–5)) loci affecting the content of nine mineral elements was identified on chromosomes 1B, 1D, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 3D, 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B, 5D, 6B, 7A, 7B, and 7D. Among these, 17 major MTAs loci for the nine mineral elements were located, and four MTAs loci (P < 10(–5)) were found on chromosomes 1B, 6B, 7B, and 7D. Eight multi-effect MTAs loci were detected that are responsible for the control of more than one trait, mainly distributed on chromosomes 3B, 7B, and 5A. Furthermore, sixteen candidate genes controlling Ca, Fe, Zn, Se, Cd, and Pb were predicted, whose functions were primarily related to ion binding, including metals, Fe, Ca, Cu, Mg, and Zn, ATP binding, ATPase activity, DNA binding, RNA binding, and protein kinase activity. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicated the existence of gene interactions among mineral elements based on multi-effect MTAs loci and candidate genes. Meanwhile this study provided new insights into the genetic control of mineral element concentrations, and the important loci and genes identified may contribute to the rapid development of beneficial mineral elements and a reduced content of harmful heavy metals in wheat grain. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12870-021-03105-3.