Natural Variation Uncovers Candidate Genes for Barley Spikelet Number and Grain Yield under Drought Stress
Drought stress can occur at any growth stage and can affect crop productivity, which can result in large yield losses all over the world. In this respect, understanding the genetic architecture of agronomic traits under drought stress is essential for increasing crop yield potential and harvest. Bar...
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MDPI AG
2020-05-01
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| Series: | Genes |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/11/5/533 |
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| author | Samar G. Thabet Yasser S. Moursi Mohamed A. Karam Andreas Börner Ahmad M. Alqudah |
| author_facet | Samar G. Thabet Yasser S. Moursi Mohamed A. Karam Andreas Börner Ahmad M. Alqudah |
| author_sort | Samar G. Thabet |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Drought stress can occur at any growth stage and can affect crop productivity, which can result in large yield losses all over the world. In this respect, understanding the genetic architecture of agronomic traits under drought stress is essential for increasing crop yield potential and harvest. Barley is considered the most abiotic stress-tolerant cereal, particularly with respect to drought. In the present study, worldwide spring barley accessions were exposed to drought stress beginning from the early reproductive stage with 35% field capacity under field conditions. Drought stress had significantly reduced the agronomic and yield-related traits such as spike length, awn length, spikelet per spike, grains per spike and thousand kernel weight. To unravel the genetic factors underlying drought tolerance at the early reproductive stage, genome-wide association scan (GWAS) was performed using 121 spring barley accessions and a 9K single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) chip. A total number of 101 significant SNPs, distributed over all seven barley chromosomes, were found to be highly associated with the studied traits, of which five genomic regions were associated with candidate genes at chromosomes 2 and 3. On chromosome 2H, the region between 6469300693-647258342 bp includes two candidate drought-specific genes (<i>HORVU2Hr1G091030</i> and <i>HORVU2Hr1G091170</i>), which are highly associated with spikelet and final grain number per spike under drought stress conditions. Interestingly, the gene expression profile shows that the candidate genes were highly expressed in spikelet, grain, spike and leaf organs, demonstrating their pivotal role in drought tolerance. To the best of our knowledge, we reported the first detailed study that used GWAS with bioinformatic analyses to define the causative alleles and putative candidate genes underlying grain yield-related traits under field drought conditions in diverse barley germplasm. The identified alleles and candidate genes represent valuable resources for future functional characterization towards the enhancement of barley cultivars for drought tolerance. |
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| series | Genes |
| spelling | doaj.art-b49ee1b3ff254fe4aa4e4e64bd9dd3132023-11-20T00:02:27ZengMDPI AGGenes2073-44252020-05-0111553310.3390/genes11050533Natural Variation Uncovers Candidate Genes for Barley Spikelet Number and Grain Yield under Drought StressSamar G. Thabet0Yasser S. Moursi1Mohamed A. Karam2Andreas Börner3Ahmad M. Alqudah4Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Fayoum, Fayoum 63514, EgyptDepartment of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Fayoum, Fayoum 63514, EgyptDepartment of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Fayoum, Fayoum 63514, EgyptResearch Group Resources Genetics and Reproduction, Department Genebank, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, 06466 Seeland OT Gatersleben, GermanyResearch Group Resources Genetics and Reproduction, Department Genebank, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, 06466 Seeland OT Gatersleben, GermanyDrought stress can occur at any growth stage and can affect crop productivity, which can result in large yield losses all over the world. In this respect, understanding the genetic architecture of agronomic traits under drought stress is essential for increasing crop yield potential and harvest. Barley is considered the most abiotic stress-tolerant cereal, particularly with respect to drought. In the present study, worldwide spring barley accessions were exposed to drought stress beginning from the early reproductive stage with 35% field capacity under field conditions. Drought stress had significantly reduced the agronomic and yield-related traits such as spike length, awn length, spikelet per spike, grains per spike and thousand kernel weight. To unravel the genetic factors underlying drought tolerance at the early reproductive stage, genome-wide association scan (GWAS) was performed using 121 spring barley accessions and a 9K single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) chip. A total number of 101 significant SNPs, distributed over all seven barley chromosomes, were found to be highly associated with the studied traits, of which five genomic regions were associated with candidate genes at chromosomes 2 and 3. On chromosome 2H, the region between 6469300693-647258342 bp includes two candidate drought-specific genes (<i>HORVU2Hr1G091030</i> and <i>HORVU2Hr1G091170</i>), which are highly associated with spikelet and final grain number per spike under drought stress conditions. Interestingly, the gene expression profile shows that the candidate genes were highly expressed in spikelet, grain, spike and leaf organs, demonstrating their pivotal role in drought tolerance. To the best of our knowledge, we reported the first detailed study that used GWAS with bioinformatic analyses to define the causative alleles and putative candidate genes underlying grain yield-related traits under field drought conditions in diverse barley germplasm. The identified alleles and candidate genes represent valuable resources for future functional characterization towards the enhancement of barley cultivars for drought tolerance.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/11/5/533GWASdroughtbarleyspikelet developmentcandidate gene |
| spellingShingle | Samar G. Thabet Yasser S. Moursi Mohamed A. Karam Andreas Börner Ahmad M. Alqudah Natural Variation Uncovers Candidate Genes for Barley Spikelet Number and Grain Yield under Drought Stress Genes GWAS drought barley spikelet development candidate gene |
| title | Natural Variation Uncovers Candidate Genes for Barley Spikelet Number and Grain Yield under Drought Stress |
| title_full | Natural Variation Uncovers Candidate Genes for Barley Spikelet Number and Grain Yield under Drought Stress |
| title_fullStr | Natural Variation Uncovers Candidate Genes for Barley Spikelet Number and Grain Yield under Drought Stress |
| title_full_unstemmed | Natural Variation Uncovers Candidate Genes for Barley Spikelet Number and Grain Yield under Drought Stress |
| title_short | Natural Variation Uncovers Candidate Genes for Barley Spikelet Number and Grain Yield under Drought Stress |
| title_sort | natural variation uncovers candidate genes for barley spikelet number and grain yield under drought stress |
| topic | GWAS drought barley spikelet development candidate gene |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/11/5/533 |
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