Thinopyrum ponticum Chromatin-Integrated Wheat Genome Shows Salt-Tolerance at Germination Stage

• Main Authors: Wen-Ye Yuan, Motonori Tomita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2015-02-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: wheat; Thinopyrum ponticum; salt tolerance; dominant gene block; translocation; genomic in situ hybridization (GISH)
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/16/3/4512

A wild wheatgrass, Thinopyrum ponticum (2n = 10x = 70), which exhibits substantially higher levels of salt tolerance than cultivated wheat, was employed to transfer its salt tolerance to common wheat by means of wide hybridization. A highly salt-tolerant wheat line S148 (2n = 42) was obtained from the BC3F2 progenies between Triticum aestivum (2n = 42) and Th. ponticum. In the cross of S148 × salt-sensitive wheat variety Chinese Spring, the BC4F2 seeds at germination stage segregated into a ratio of 3 salt tolerant to 1 salt sensitive, indicating that the salt tolerance was conferred by a dominant gene block. Genomic in situ hybridization analysis revealed that S148 had a single pair of Th. ponticum–T. aestivum translocated chromosomes bearing the salt-tolerance. This is an initial step of molecular breeding for salt-tolerant wheat.