Longer epidermal cells underlie a quantitative source of variation in wheat flag leaf size.

ABSTRACT: The wheat flag leaf is the main contributor of photosynthetic assimilates to developing grains. Understanding how canopy architecture strategies affect source strength and yield will aid improved crop design. We used an eight-founder population to investigate the genetic architecture of flag leaf area, length, width and angle in European wheat. For the strongest genetic locus identified, we subsequently created a near-isogenic line (NIL) pair for more detailed investigation across seven test environments. Genetic control of traits investigated was highly polygenic, with colocalisation of replicated quantitative trait loci (QTL) for one or more traits identifying 24 loci. For QTL QFll.niab-5A.1 (FLL5A), development of a NIL pair found the FLL5A+ allele commonly conferred a c. 7% increase in

SUBMITTER: Zanella CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10107444 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature