Dissecting the genetic basis of grain color and pre-harvest sprouting resistance in common wheat by association analysis

Pre-harvest sprouting(PHS) adversely affects wheat quality and yield, and grain color(GC) is associated with PHS resistance. However, the genetic relationship between GC and PHS resistance remains unclear. In this study, 168 wheat varieties(lines) with significant differences in GC and PHS resistance were genotyped using an Illumina 90K iSelect SNP array. Genome-wide association study(GWAS) based on a mixed linear model showed that 67 marker-trait associations(MTAs) assigned to 29 loci, including 17 potentially novel loci, were significantly associated with GC, which explained 1.1–17.0% of the phenotypic variation. In addition, 100 MTAs belonging to 54 loci, including 31 novel loci, were significantly associated with PHS resistance, which accounted for 1.1–14.7% of the phenotypic variation. Subsequently, two cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences(CAPS) markers, 2B-448 on chromosome 2B and 5B-301 on chromosome 5B,were developed from the representative SNPs of the major common loci Qgc.ahau-2B.3/Qphs.ahau-2B.4controlling GC/PHS resistance and PHS resistance locus Qphs.ahau-5B.4, respectively. Further validation in 171 Chinese mini-core collections confirmed significant correlations of the two CAPS markers with GC and PHS resistance phenotypes under different environments(P<0.05). Furthermore, the wheat public expression database, transcriptomic sequencing, and gene allelic variation analysis identified TraesCS5B02G545100, which encodes glutaredoxin, as a potential candidate gene linked to Qphs.ahau-5B.4. The new CAPS marker CAPS-356 was then developed based on the SNP(T/C) in the coding sequences(CDS) region of TraesCS5B02G545100. The high-density linkage map of the Jing 411/Hongmangchun 21 recombinant inbred lines(RILs) constructed based on specific locus amplified fragment sequencing markers showed that CAPS-356 collocated with a novel QTL for PHS resistance, supporting the role of TraesCS5B02G545100 as the potential candidate gene linked to Qphs.ahau-5B.4. These results provide valuable information for the map-based cloning of Qphs.ahau-5B.4 and breeding of PHS resistant white-grained varieties.

Effect of Waxy Wheat Flour Blends on the Quality of Chinese Steamed Bread

Steamed bread is very popular in the East and Southeast Asian regions, and its quality is affected by some physicochemical properties. Chinese steamed bread was made by adding waxy flour into normal wheat flour in the present study. The results showed that specific volume was not affected by the proportions of waxy flour, whereas, adding waxy flour decreased the appearance, color, texture, elasticity, stickiness, and the total score of Chinese steamed bread. However, there were no significant differences in all values when the proportions of waxy flour were below 10%. All evaluations but specific volume of Chinese steamed bread were positively influenced by the peak viscosity, resistance, and maximum resistance. When the waxy flour proportions were below 25%, the firmness of Chinese steamed bread stored at -18℃ for 3 days gradually decreased with the increase of waxy flour. It was revealed that the qualities of Chinese steamed bread cannot be improved by waxy flour but it can be widely used in frozen storing food in the future.

Effect of Waxy Wheat Flour Blends on the Quality of Fresh and Stale Bread

Starch is the major component in the wheat kernel, which is mainly composed of amylose and amylopectin. The wheat without amylose in its endosperm was called ＂waxy wheat＂. Waxy wheat can be used to adjust the amylose content and improve the wheat-based food quality by adding to non-waxy wheat flour. In order to investigate the effect of waxy wheat flour on the quality of fresh and stale bread, waxy wheat flour was added into the flour of Canadian Spring Wheat 2 at 0.0, 5.0, 10.0, 15.0, 20.0, 25.0, 30.0, and 35.0% to make breads. The physicochemical properties were adjusted to suitability by adding Yangmai 158 flour, and breads were evaluated for sensory quality, crumb firmness, loaf volume and weight loss over a period of 0, 2, 4, and 6 days. The result showed that the best total score of fresh bread was 82.9 by adding waxy flour at 7.0%, though no significant difference was found among blends with 0.0-15.0% of waxy flour. Breads with the addition of 22.0% waxy flour had lower firmness, and decreasing loss of weight. Waxy wheat flour blend at 15.0% was optimal in retarding staling without significant decreasing fresh bread quality in comparison to the control.