BOOK OF ABSTRACTS - IPK Gatersleben · 1 Workshop Genetic Resources: Conservation and Trait...

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Workshop

Genetic Resources: Conservation and Trait Improvement”

Gesellschaft für Pflanzenzüchtung e.V. (GPZ)

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS

Gatersleben, 10.-11-12.2015

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Editor: Andreas Graner/ IPK

Assistant: Sabine Odparlik/ IPK

Photograph: Frank Schröder/ IPK

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Support

Organizers

Scientific Committee

Andreas Graner, IPK/ Gatersleben

Gunter Backes, University/ Kassel-Witzenhausen

Karl Hammer, IPK/ Gatersleben

Benjamin Kilian, Bayer CropScience/ Gent

Frank Ordon, JKI/ Quedlinburg

Local Organizing Committee

Andreas Graner, IPK/ Gatersleben

Sabine Odparlik, IPK/ Gatersleben

Katrin Menzel, IPK Gatersleben

Uwe Scholz, IPK Gatersleben

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Topic

Crop plants have been developed over thousands of years during which they have been

adapted to our need and purposes. As a result the range distribution of crop plants by far

exceeds the limits of their centers of origin. By no means, the mutualistic relationship

between crop plants and man represents an end-point development. Global Change,

increased demand, and the depletion of resources need for increased resilience and

sustainability and require an ongoing genetic adaptation of crop plants to meet our needs.

Conservation of genetic resources of crop plants and their wild relatives is an indispensable

prerequisite not only to maintain and manage biodiversity in agro-ecosystems but also to

procure novel genetic diversity to plant breeders. In addition upstream research on trait

mapping and gene discovery critically depends on access to appropriate germplasm.

World-wide more that 7 million accessions are kept in ex situ collections. Despite this large

number and the fact that there is redundancy in the system, sustained management of the

individual collections still represents a major challenge, due to bottlenecks in seed

multiplication resulting in loss of seed viability and/or genetic erosion. Access to Plant

Genetic Resources in situ and ex situ is increasingly regulated by a proliferating legal

framework, since genetic resources are no longer considered as public goods and heritage

of mankind.

The working group on Plant Genetic Resources deals with a wide range of aspects

pertaining to their conservation and utilization. Notwithstanding the above mentioned

problems and limitations research on plant genetic resources provides ample opportunities to

meet future challenges regarding the supply with food, feed and renewable resources. The

workshop "Genetic resources: conservation and trait improvement" will provide a platform for

both scientists and plant breeders to learn about and discuss recent developments in the

field of plant genetic resources.

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Program

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Inhaltsverzeichnis Support ................................................................................................................................. 3

Organizers ............................................................................................................................. 3

Scientific Committee .......................................................................................................... 3

Local Organizing Committee .............................................................................................. 3

Topic ..................................................................................................................................... 4

Program ................................................................................................................................ 5

Introductory Session: Biodiversity and Innovation .................................................................10

Recent developments regarding access and benefit-sharing ............................................10

Frank Begemann

PGR – Innovation and conservation – Biopatents, seeds as common good, conservation

varieties ............................................................................................................................11

Alexandra Bönsch

Session 1: Collection and Conservation Activities ................................................................12

Ex situ conservation of crop plants: Land of plenty? .........................................................12

Andreas Graner

The California Genetic Resources Conservation Program ................................................13

Calvin O. Qualset

Ex situ of conservation of wild species ..............................................................................14

Sabine Zachgo

Genome Analysis: Approaches towards monitoring and optimization of conservation

management of plant genetic resources ...........................................................................15

Karl Schmid

Grapevine ex situ germplasm management 2015: Trueness to type, documentation, and

evaluation .........................................................................................................................16

Reinhard Töpfer

Session 2: Landraces and Crop Wild Relatives ....................................................................17

Challenges regarding ex situ/on farm conservation management of crops ........................17

Karl Hammer

Novel approaches to varolize PGR for wheat breeding .....................................................18

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Jochen C. Reif

Valorization of landraces and crop wild relatives from a breeders perspective ..................18

Benjamin Kilian

Landraces and crop wild relatives as resources for disease resistance in cereals ............19

Frank Ordon

Landraces and CWR as a substrate for organic breeding .................................................20

Gunter Backes

Allium obliquum, an example for a newcomer crop amongst the wild Allium genepool ......22

Joachim Keller

Session 3: Genomics and Biodiversity Informatics ...............................................................23

Documenting European Agrobiodiversity: EURISCO, the European Search Portal for Plant

Genetic Resources ...........................................................................................................23

Stephan Weise

Exploring and exploiting molecular diversity in cereals ......................................................24

Nils Stein

Changes in PGR management as a result of genomics and their consequences for data

management .....................................................................................................................25

Theo van Hintum

Session 4: Future Challenges ...............................................................................................26

Phenotyping applications for trait discovery and screening of crop genetic resources .......26

Fabio Fiorani

Reaching back through the domestication bottleneck: trends in tapping wild plant

biodiversity for crop improvement .....................................................................................27

Hannes Dempewolf

Seed longevity of plant genetic resources - Genetic and biochemical markers reveal

mechanism of seed deterioration in barley ........................................................................28

Manuela Nagel

Implementing genotyping-by-sequencing to assess genetic diversity in rye ......................29

Mona Schreiber

Postersession .......................................................................................................................30

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Intraspecific variation and genetic mapping of seed longevity in tobacco ..........................30

Monika Agacka-Mołdoch

Evaluation of wheat (Triticum aestivum) germplasm for frost tolerance by a genome-wide

association mapping approach .........................................................................................31

Fernando Alberto Arana-Ceballos

The genetic architecture of barley plant stature .................................................................32

Ahmad Alqudah

Association mapping studies on drought tolerance in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) 33

Annika Behrens

Genetic reserves for wild celery species (Apium and Helosciadium) .................................34

Maria Bönisch

Phenotyping genetic diversity of perennial ryegrass ecotypes (Lolium perenne L.) ...........35

Alexandra Bothe

Dynamic management of winter barley genetic resources ................................................36

Lorenz Bülow

Characterization of agronomic traits and locating exotic genes, which control agronomic

traits under contrasting nitrogen supply in the wild barley nested association mapping

population HEB-25 ............................................................................................................38

Paul Herzig

Germinability Prediction For Barley Seeds With Hyperspectral Imaging And Mathematical

Modelling ..........................................................................................................................39

Katharina Holstein

Toward fine mapping of a powdery mildew resistance gene in a Hordeum vulgare/

bulbosum introgression line ..............................................................................................40

Parastoo Hoseinzadeh

A step towards a causal model of flowering time in barley ................................................41

Andreas Maurer

BRIDGE project: Biodiversity informatics for harnessing barley genetic diversity hosted at

the genebank of IPK Gatersleben. ....................................................................................42

Sara Giulia Milner

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Wild relatives as resources of novel genetic variation for improved resistance to diseases

and pests in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) .....................................................................43

Marion Nachtigall

Imaging genetics – time dependent QTL detection for biomass development in barley .....44

Kerstin Neumann

Influence of individual chromosomes on double haploid (DH) production of bread wheat .45

Myroslava Rubtsova

Identifying the components of salinity tolerance using a Nested Association Mapping

barley population ..............................................................................................................46

Stephanie Saade

Magic Wheat WM-800: Targeted breeding of winter wheat elite cultivars ..........................47

Wiebke Sannemann

Complex study of postzygotic reproductive barriers between common wheat (T. aestivum

L.) and rye (S. cereale L.) .................................................................................................48

Natalia Tikhenko

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Introductory Session: Biodiversity and Innovation

Recent developments regarding access and benefit-sharing

Frank Begemann1

1 Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), Bonn/ Germany

Before the entry into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993 genetic re-

sources have been considered as common heritage of mankind. Since then a paradigm shift

has occurred and sovereign rights of States over their natural resources have been

introduced. This includes the rights of governments to introduce in their national legislation

conditions for access to genetic resources within their jurisdiction.

For the plant breeding sector two international agreements on Access to Genetic Resources

and Benefit Sharing (ABS) apply: the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for

Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty) and the Nagoya Protocol. Whereas the Plant Treaty has

created a multilateral system on ABS with facilitated access to the most important crops via a

standardized Material Transfer Agreement, the Nagoya Protocol is based on a bilateral

approach that requires case-by-case negotiations between the country of origin of genetic

resources and the user.

This presentation explains the differences between the two international agreements and

how they are implemented in Europe and in Germany. It sets out the consequences for

genebanks as important providers for plant genetic resources and for breeding and research

in Germany and gives some guidance on how to decide whether the intended use of genetic

resources regulated by the Plant Treaty or by the Nagoya Protocol

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PGR – Innovation and conservation – Biopatents, seeds as common good,

conservation varieties

Alexandra Bönsch1

1 Bundesverband Deutscher Pflanzenzüchter e.V. (BDP), Bonn/ Germany

Alexandra Bönsch is staff lawyer within the German Plant Breeders’ Association

(Bundesverband Deutscher Pflanzenzüchter e.V.) and responsible for the topics regarding

plant genetic resources, intellectual property and seed law. In her presentation she will give

an overview on the current discussion on seeds as common good and related questions. She

will highlight the importance of a balanced system for intellectual property and present the

BDP position on the Broccoli II case. Furthermore she will explain the legal requirements for

conservation varieties and the latest discussions on amending the seed law.

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Session 1: Collection and Conservation Activities

Ex situ conservation of crop plants: Land of plenty?

Andreas Graner1

1 Leibniz-Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben/ Germany

Conventional crop breeding essentially rests on repeated cycles of crossing and selection.

This approach has warranted the development of superior cultivars over the past decades.

However, it is only sustainable, if the genetic diversity that is lost in the process of selection

is adequately replenished by introducing novel diversity into the genepool. Ex situ

conservation of plant genetic resources represents the major backbone to maintain the

intraspecific diversity of many important crop plant species. At present about 7 million seed

samples are stored in far more than 1000 ex situ collections worldwide. Despite impressive

achievements the continued conservation of genetic resources faces a series of challenges,

including overcoming the regeneration bottleneck, maintaining the genetic authenticity of

landrace populations as well as information management.

Undeniably, the vast diversity resting on the shelves of genebanks has been tapped into only

marginally. Hence, genebanks are increasingly expected to provide informed access to their

genetic resources. At the highest level of resolution, this means that each genebank

accession is tagged with information on individual alleles along with their phenotypic effects.

The majority of crop genomes are characterized by their large size and inherent complexity

impinging upon molecular analysis, meiotic recombination and, sometimes, their amenability

to genetic modification. However, these limitations have been increasingly overcome by

technical advances in several key areas. Progress will be reviewed by illustrating examples

of the IPK research program on barley and wheat regarding (i) structural and functional

genomics, (ii) phenotypic cataloging of accessions using automated imaging and (iii) novel

biotechnological approaches that will provide entry points for crop improvement. While the

application of novel technologies opens up a wealth of entry points for genetic analyses, it

also generates humongous streams of data. Therefore, integrated concepts of data

management and analysis will need serious consideration when aiming at the exploitation of

novel technologies for the systematic phenotypic and genotypic characterization of genebank

collections.

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The California Genetic Resources Conservation Program

Calvin O. Qualset1, P.E. McGuire1

1 University of California, Davis/ U.S.A

California/ U.S.A., has a rich biological resource heritage in terms of biological diversity and

agricultural biodiversity. More than 250 agricultural commodities, both plant and animal, are

produced. Practically of them were historically introduced from elsewhere. The diversity of

climate and geography contribute to the wide adaptation of crops and livestock. This diversity

has been enhanced by genetic improvements in crops and livestock, an on-going activity in

both public and private institutions. Such improvements are facilitated by genetic resources,

and their accessibility and conservation are essential. This was recognized by researchers

and industry for many years. At the same time there was no mechanism for protecting those

resources. This deficiency was recognized in the 1970s and finally in the 1980s efforts to

establish an organization to facilitate protection of these valuable resources. The California

Gene Conservation Program was established privately through State financial support and

later transferred to the University of California as a UC Statewide Program (GRCP). The

program received 25% of the authorized funds and that limitation required modification of the

planned program structure to facilitate conservation of genetic resources through other

organizations, mainly University and government entities. The Genetic Resources

Conservation Program [GRCP] evaluated various collections of genetic materials [for

example, tomato genetic stocks and wild relatives, avocado, citrus, lettuce, Monterey pine]

and developed conservation and funding strategies. It also provided about 40 small grants

each year to investigators to protect their genetic resource collections. In all, about 210

species were supported by the small-grants program. In addition, genetic conservation

research programs were supported through extramural grants. Several plant collection

expeditions were developed through grants and GRCP support [for example, Monterey pine

in Mexican Islands, Turkish wheat landraces] and several collections were rescued and

relocated to safe conservation [cucurbit and cotton for USDA]. Three permanent

conservation and support facilities were developed [C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource

Center, National Grapevine Importation Facility, and the H. Phaff International Yeast

Collection]. Several training activities were conducted with external financial support

[International Plant and Animal Conservation Courses and Conservation Biology Research

and Assessment Institutes for UC graduate students in Ecology]. Six international symposia

were organized on various topics, such as in situ conservation and domestication of crops

and livestock. On the basis of limited University funding and in spite of the many useful

outcomes, the University discontinued GRCP in 2008.

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Ex situ of conservation of wild species

Sabine Zachgo1

1 Universität Osnabrück, Osnabrück/ Germany

Successful conservation of endangered wild plant species in situ, in their natural habitats,

can in many cases no longer be guaranteed. Gene banks, where seeds from wild plants are

kept at cool temperatures are an expedient supplement to retain biodiversity. The ‘Genbank

Wildpflanzen für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft’ (WEL) is a network, which was established

as a model and demonstration project in 2009 to implement national endeavours regarding

the protection of plant genetic resources. Participating in this network are the Botanical

Gardens of Osnabrück, Berlin, Karlsruhe and Regensburg, as well as the College of

Education in Karlsruhe. For the first time five partners are collecting nationwide seeds from

indigenous CWRs with a direct or potential added value for humans. CWR species from four

large regions in Germany and thus from diverse natural habitats are sampled. Long-term ex

situ conservation aims to ensure access to CWR seed material from populations adopted to

different biotic and abiotic factors, which can be applied for future research and breeding

purposes.

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Genome Analysis: Approaches towards monitoring and optimization of

conservation management of plant genetic resources

Karl Schmid1

1 Inst. of Plant Breeding, Seed Science & Pop. Genetics, Univ. of Hohenheim, Stuttgart/ Germany

The rapid development of genome analysis technologies and bioinformatics tools facilitates

the large scale characterization of ex situ conserved plant genetic resources (PGR). We

used genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) of germplasm in combination with phenotypic

analysis to characterize the diversity in genetic resources of different crop species like

cauliflower to understand the relative roles of germplasm origin and maintenance on the

structure of conserved diversity. Of cauliflower, we genotyped 191 accessions from the

USDA and IPK genebanks that originated from 26 different countries and represent about

50\% of all accessions in both genebanks. According to genetic diversity patterns,

accessions did not cluster by country of origin but formed two major groups that represented

the two genebanks with different levels of overall diversity. The composition and type of

accessions strongly influence the genetic diversity of ex situ collections. Robust tests of

genetic differentiation indicate that regeneration procedures and local adaptation may further

contribute to a genetic differentiation between genebanks. A comparison of genotypic and

phenotypic information by genome-wide association studies indicate that a fairly small

sample of phenotyped individuals is sufficient to identify putative QTL alleles by genome-

wide association studies, or parents for establishing new crosses via genomic prediction.

Since GBS produces high proportions of missing data, we evaluated the use of imputation for

GWAS and genomic prediction and observed that in cauliflower genebank accessions

imputation did not improve genomic prediction. It is also known that GBS produces biased

estimates of population genetic parameters. We compared GBS with exome capture data of

Douglas-fir provenances to estimate population structure and population genetic parameters

and observed that the population structure is well represented with GBS data, although

exome capture sequencing provide better estimates of population genetic parameters, which

has implications for allele mining in PGR. Overall, GBS is a useful method for characterizing

the genetic structure of PGR and for monitoring the diversity during seed regeneration to

manage genetic diversity over regeneration cycles, and despite its limitations GBS or related

approaches should become an essential component of future PGR characterization and

management. The large-scale availability of genotypic (and, in addition, phenotypic)

information, however, requires that the structure of current genebank database systems

need to be updated to accommodate these additional types of information.

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Grapevine ex situ germplasm management 2015: Trueness to type,

documentation, and evaluation

Reinhard Töpfer1

1 Julius Kühn-Institut, Siebeldingen/ Germany

Trueness to type of grapevine cultivars is the essential factor of genetic resources

management. To a certain degree gene bank material suffers from wrong denomination. In

addition, grapevines found in old vineyards are frequently less vigorous and show atypical

morphology for ampelographic cultivar identification. Thus, clarification of denomination as

well as synonymy, homonymy, and misnaming is one of the most important tasks for a

reliable conservation of grapevine genetic resources. The combination of nuclear

microsatellites (SSRs) and ampelography proved to be most suited for grapevine

documentation and substantially improve the value of the three grapevine genetic resources

databases managed by the JKI Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof: the Vitis

International Variety Catalogue’ (VIVC, www.vivc.de), the ‘European Vitis Database’

(www.eu.vitis.de) and the ‘Deutsche Genbank Reben’ (www.deutsche-genbank-

reben.de). The VIVC provides cultivar specific information, like passport- and resistance

data, bibliography and fingerprints. In the ‘European Vitis Database’ 37.170 accessions are

registered, which are maintained by 58 institutes. The ‘Deutsche Genbank Reben’ comprises

of 4328 accessions. Their trueness to type is currently under investigation, an activity, which

is supported by a BLE funded BÖLN-project.

For description of grapevine genetic resources and their utilization a comprehensive

evaluation is desired which is laborious and time consuming. Since recently first automated

phenotyping techniques are being tested in the ex situ collection at Geilweilerhof. Within the

BMBF projects CROP.SENSe.net and PhenoVines an automatic data recording and

evaluation pipeline was established using a GPS guided robot and a multi camera system.

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Session 2: Landraces and Crop Wild Relatives

Challenges regarding ex situ/on farm conservation management of crops

Karl Hammer1


Large numbers of accessions have been brought together in genebanks (e.g. 856,000

accessions of wheat), especially in the time of the “Plant Genetic Resources (PGR)

Movement”. The “Convention on Biological Diversity” (CBD) substituted and partly replaced

an earlier instrument, the “International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Food

and Agriculture” of the FAO. A harmonization process between both agreements resulted in

the new “International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture”

(ITPGRFA). Apart from this political framework, a second challenge for plant genetic

resources arose because of the rapid development of molecular biology in addition to the

swift development of electronic data documentation, management and exchange. Towards

the end of the "Plant Genetic Resources Movement", in the beginning of the 1990s, a general

paradigm shift was observed in the discipline of plant genetic resources. Several changes

were noted, which are here exemplified for wheat, because this crop includes highly

domesticated cultivars, landraces and wild relatives and thus all levels of PGR concerned:

In situ (incl. on farm) as opposed to ex situ maintenance of PGR.

The ex situ maintenance in genebanks lost its predominance.

The inclusion of neglected and underutilized cultivated plants.

Methods of analysing diversity within and between different taxa.

Here, new technologies are rapidly developing and increasingly provide results towards the

status and evolution of populations.

Methods of evaluation.

Molecular markers in the form of DNA segments, even if they are not always functional genes,

have shown themselves to be tools to identify genetic differences on a fairly simple level

without reference to ecological influence.

Storage and reproduction in genebanks

Storing of genetic resources in the genebanks is usually done in an effective and cost-efficient

way under long-term conditions.

The maintaining of landraces is a challenge for genebanks and on-farm activities.

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Novel approaches to varolize PGR for wheat breeding

Jochen C. Reif1


More than half a million wheat genetic resources are resting in genebanks worldwide.

Unlocking their hidden favorable diversity for breeding is pivotal for climate-smart agriculture

needed to avert future food shortage. Here, we propose exploiting recent advances in hybrid

wheat technology to uncover the masked breeding values of wheat genetic resources. The

gathered phenotypic information will enable a targeted choice of accessions with high value

for pre-breeding among this plethora of genetic resources. We intend to provoke a paradigm

shift in pre-breeding strategies for grain yield, moving away from allele mining toward

genome-wide selection to bridge the yield gap between genetic resources and elite breeding

pools.

Valorization of landraces and crop wild relatives from a breeders perspective

Benjamin Kilian1

1 Bayer CropScience, Breeding & Trait Development, Gent/ Belgium

Breeders need genetic diversity to succeed. Collection and conservation activities in the last

century have greatly enriched the range of genetic diversity available to plant breeders.

However, there has been limited use of landraces and crop wild relatives from ex situ

collections by plant breeders. What are the reasons? It is clear that activities related to Plant

Genetic Resources (PGR) are characterized by high cost and long term return. But further

major obstacles can be identified to the use of PGR. How can we improve the utilization of

landraces and crop wild relatives for breeding?

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Landraces and crop wild relatives as resources for disease resistance in

cereals

Frank Ordon1, Dragan Perovic1, Thomas Lüpken1, Thomas Vatter1, Lisa Luthardt1, Ping

Yang2, Cristina Silvar3, Ilona Krämer1, Antje Habekuss1, Doris Kopahnke1, Albrecht Serfling1,

Andreas Graner2, Nils Stein2

1 Julius Kühn-Institute (JKI), Quedlinburg/ Germany

2 Leibniz Institute for Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben/ Germany

3 Dep. of Ecology, University of Coruña, Coruña/Spain

Barley and wheat are of high importance for feeding the earth´s growing population.

However, both are hit by many pathogens causing severe yield losses. Therefore, identifying

sources of resistance in landraces and crop wild relatives followed by marker development

and the marker based exploitation of genetic and/or allelic variation with respect to resistance

is a prerequisite to ensure an ecological sound cereal production and to avoid high yield

losses. Based on screening programmes for resistance followed by genetic analyses,

molecular markers have been developed for many major genes and QTLs for resistance in

wheat and barley. While in the past marker development was time consuming and laborious,

today genomic resources like the Infinium iSelect genotyping bead chips, physical and

sequence based maps, the GenomeZipper, comprising a virtual linear order of genes of

different monocot species, next generation sequencing techniques, e.g. genotyping by

sequencing (GBS), exome capture, or RNAseq and MACE, facilitate efficient marker

development and marker saturation for genes and QTL of interest. Using these techniques

e.g. closely linked markers for a highly efficient leaf rust (Puccinia hordei) resistance gene

derived from a Serbian barley landrace were developed and QTLs efficient against powdery

mildew (Blumeria graminis) derived from a landrace of the Spanish barley core collection

were considerably reduced in size. Besides mapping in bi-parental populations, high

throughput marker technologies facilitate the efficient identification of major genes and QTL

via genome wide association studies (GWAS) or Nested association mapping (NAM)

approaches. Using MACE genes involved in pre-haustorial resistance identified in Triticum

monococcum against Puccinia triticina were identified. Furthermore, using respective

genomic tools will lead to an enhanced isolation of resistance genes via map based cloning

as has been recently shown for rym11 efficient against BaMMV and BaYMV. The isolation of

genes involved in resistance will transfer resistance breeding to the allele level and will

facilitate the sequenced based identification of novel alleles in large gene bank collections

and their directed use in plant breeding. In summary, landraces and crop wild relatives are a

valuable resource for improving resistance and genomic tools will lead to a faster exploitation

of these resistances.

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Landraces and CWR as a substrate for organic breeding

Gunter Backes1

1 Univ. of Kassel, Section of Organic Breeding and Agrobiodiversity, Witzenhausen/ Germany

In Organic Agriculture (OA) varieties of different origins are used: (a) varieties bred

conventionally for the conventional market; (b) varieties bred conventionally, but selected in

an organic environment for the organic market; (c) varieties bred organically for the organic

market; (d) genetic resources (land–races) mostly after some kind of selection. When dealing

with landraces and CWR specifically for organic breeding (OB) or bred for the organic

market, the first question must be, in which points demands to varieties for OA are different.

First, a variety that is optimised for a conventional agro-environment can also work in an

organic environment, but will often not be optimal as shown by Reid et al. (2009). One of the

reason is that the variety has to cope with a higher environmental variance, that is not short-

time controlled by the farmer, another reason is a spectrum of different demands or different

weights of demands to the variety compared to conventional agriculture (CA): (a) varieties

bred for OA needs a better competitiveness against weeds as no herbicides are applied. Part

of the traits contributing higher weed competitiveness were either sacrificed in reaching

higher yield through a better harvest-index, more above-plant biomass, as an adaptation to

higher nutrient supply, as plant height, or as an adaptation to very dense stands, as an

erectophile growth type. Other parts as allelopathy vanished from modern varieties simply by

neglecting them in the breeding process (Bertholdsson 2004). (b) varieties bred for OA need

a better nutrient use efficiency (NUE). Even though this trait complex gets increasing

attention in breeding for CA, it is still largely neglected due to the high level of complexity

including root traits, physiological traits influencing soil conditions, intake, transport and

storage of nutrients as well as symbiosis with mycorrhiza (and rhizobia) and due to the

concurrency with other (more important) traits. As for the symbiosis with mycorrhiza (and

rhizobia) this process costs energy for the plant and thus reduces yield. Selecting in an

environment, where the respective nutrients are not in their minimum leads to selection

against micorrhizal colonisation (Zhu et al. 2001). (c) varieties bred for OA need a better

resistance against seed-borne diseases, which are largely neglected in breeding for CA, as

mostly seed-dressing is applied. (d) Due to a different demand to product quality, traits as

taste and nutritional value have a higher weight in breeding for OA. Besides these

differences in desirable traits, a higher functional diversity is expected to cope with the larger

short-term changes in environmental conditions that are not compensated by external inputs.

Other differences related to plant breeding is the higher need for many different crops in

order to maintain a highly diverse crop rotation and, further, the proscription of all methods

that include transfer of DNA into the plant cell. As many of the mentioned traits have

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vanished from modern varieties, either due to active selection against the trait or neglecting

the trait, genetic resources are important breeding partners in breeding for OA and especially

for OB. In addition, as (conventional) breeding more and more retracts to the “big crops”, OA

is also forced to use genetic resources as found and maintained or as selected by organic

breeders on different levels of institutionalisation.

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Allium obliquum, an example for a newcomer crop amongst the wild Allium

genepool

Joachim Keller1, Angelika Senula1

1 Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben/ Germany

The genus Allium covers a complex of about 850 species. Some of them are major

vegetables, spices and ornamentals. But much more are of potential usability. For more than

30 years, Allium was in focus of taxonomical research using all sources from morphology to

molecular-genetic information. This resulted in an entirely novel structure of the genus. Since

the beginning of this research, a comprehensive living collection of about 3300 accessions

has been established and maintained which served as scientific base and reference

collection. Out of these species, Allium obliquum was selected as promising for further

studies. This species is already used in Siberian home gardens and has an additional

disjunctive area in Romania. In the frame of an InnoRegio project, field cultivation was

performed in the Agrargenossenschaft Calbe and biochemical analysis and studies for

usability of novel Allium oils were done in the JKI Quedlinburg. Micropropagation was studied

in IPK. On standard micropropagation medium, the multiplication factors are genotype-

dependent and relatively low (mean 1.71 / year in the species), but higher for hybrids (mean

26.4 / year). Distant hybrids were obtained by crossing A. obliquum with onion using embryo

rescue techniques. Cryopreservation was developed by using in vitro plants and immature

inflorescences. In vitro plants reached low regeneration rates (18 %). Regeneration from

cryopreserved inflorescences was between 50 and 90 % under optimum conditions

(inflorescence harvest in April, 1-2 week cold storage of the inflorescences at 10 °C). Two

methods, droplet vitrification and vitrification proper, both using PVS3, gave similar results on

two different recovery media. Male-sterile plants were found in one accession (11.5 % of the

inflorescences there). Furthermore, this species served as a model for Allium pollen

cryopreservation. Using ten accessions, the mean germination rate of cryopreserved pollen

was about 50 % and did not differ significantly from the rate of fresh pollen. Seed set with

cryopreserved pollen was 62 %. Further investigations were started on the dependence of

pollen storability on humidity of the air during pollen harvest. In 2013, a variety was

registered in the Bundessortenamt. However, due to the high economic barriers, broader

marketing of the species was not reached. However, the species entered various catalogues

for hobbyist gardeners, which seems to be a limited success of the efforts to promote this

species.

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Session 3: Genomics and Biodiversity Informatics

Documenting European Agrobiodiversity: EURISCO, the European Search

Portal for Plant Genetic Resources

Stephan Weise1, Markus Oppermann1, Helmut Knüpffer1

1 Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Gatersleben/ Germany

The European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO; http://eurisco.ipk-

gatersleben.de) is an international database documenting information about European

ex situ conserved accessions of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA)

within the framework of the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources

(ECPGR). EURISCO is based on a network of national collections coordinated by National

Focal Points, who develop National Inventories. Currently, 43 countries participate in

EURISCO; its dataset presently comprises passport data of approximately 1.166 million

accessions belonging to more than 6,200 plant genera. The accessions are maintained in

almost 400 European Institutions.

EURISCO was initially developed within the EU-funded EPGRIS (European Plant Genetic

Resources Information Infra-Structure) project, and afterwards, it was operated and further

developed by Bioversity International, Rome, from 2003 till 2014. In the frame of a tender for

the hosting of EURISCO launched by ECPGR, the bid offered by IPK was successful. Since

April 2014, IPK thus became responsible for the operation and development of EURISCO.

After a comprehensive reengineering, EURISCO became fully operational from the IPK

website by September 2014.

EURISCO is being continuously developed at IPK, based on the requirements and

suggestions expressed by the European Plant Genetic Resources community, and with the

aim of establishing EURISCO as a central repository for information on PGRFA at the

European level, and of increasing its attractiveness for modern plant research and breeding.

In this regard, the integration of phenotypic data will be an important step.

An overview of the taxonomic composition of European germplasm holdings, based on

EURISCO, will be given.

24

Exploring and exploiting molecular diversity in cereals

Nils Stein1


Barley is one of the most important cereal crop species. It is a close relative to wheat and

rye. Its haploid genome size exceeds 5 Gigabases (Gbp), almost twice the size of any fully

sequenced organism or crop species. Recently, the International Barley Sequencing

Consortium (IBSC) succeeded to establish access to a gene-centric view of the barley

genome: a physical map densely integrated with the genetic map and substantiated by ~400

megabases of assembled whole genome shotgun sequence containing more than 20,000

transcriptionally active genes. Although strongly enabling research and application in barley

improvement, the resource is limited due to the low physical resolution at centromeres and

due to the lack of sequence contiguity IBSC is furthermore heading for a complete genome

sequence and a minimal tiling path (MTP) of overlapping BAC clones provided by the

physical map is being processed for hierarchical map-based sequencing. Sequencing data of

all seven barley chromosomes has been accumulated and assembly and annotation are in

progress. This step-changing resource of genomic sequence information is enabling now

true genome scale analysis in barley and lays the foundation for genomics based breeding,

crop improvement and comparative / evolutionary analyses within the genus Hordeum. The

reference of the barley genome serves as a basis for a recently started project BRIDGE to

survey the genetic diversity by Genotyping-by-Sequencing of 20,000 accessions of the

barley collection of IPK.

Based on the newly established barley genomic resources we explored the usefulness of

Next-Generation-Sequencing technology for unlocking genetic resources from barley crop

wild relatives. We used a recently developed whole exome capture assay in combination with

a custom SNP genotyping assay as well as two-enzyme genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) to

allocate the introgression interval of a H. vulgare/H.bulbosum IL and to genotype progeny

segregating for the introgression. Both methods provided fast and reliable detection and

mapping of the introgressed segment and enabled the identification of recombinant plants

avoiding tedious and iterative steps of marker development. In a subsequent study GBS was

applied to characterize 141 barley/H. bulbosum ILs by looking at H. bulbosum specific SNP

frequencies along the barley reference map. H. bulbosum segments could be identified on all

chromosomal arms and even very small (< 1 MB) introgressed fragments could be detected

and localized with about 8 and 9 SNPs per 1 MB or 1 cM, respectively. In fact, 13 ILs

displayed additional introgressed segments, which haven’t been identified by previous

attempts.

25

Changes in PGR management as a result of genomics and their consequences

for data management

Theo van Hintum1

1 Centre for Genetic Resources (CG), Wageningen/ The Netherlands

Genomics, and other omics technologies will radically change plant science, as we will get

the opportunity to unravel the molecular basis of biology from the DNA to the phenotype.

Also the impact on plant breeding will be enormous, since if we understand we can predict

and change. For example, we can screen large sets of genotypes looking for variants that

might change the phenotype. The impact on PGR management could take different forms.

The pessimistic prediction is that nothing will change: genebanks conserve PGR, deliver

material to the user community and this community uses it outside the view of the genebank.

To a large extend that is a continuation of the current situation. However there is also an

optimistic prediction in which the genebank becomes an organic part of the research

community, selecting and making the PGR material available, and using the results of the

research to better organize the collections and make the selection of material more efficient.

This will require the genebanks to make sure that they can provide the appropriate material

used in research, and that they can use the information generated by research.

Currently genebanks conserve PGR in the form of mixtures of lines in the case of self-

pollinators or more or less random mating populations in the case of cross-pollinators.

However, the omics-research community requires where possible homogeneous and

homozygous lines, i.e. single seed descent from the genebank accessions, for GWAS or

other gene discovery approaches. Alternatively it will use research populations (MAGIC, RIL,

NIL). As a result a research project will change the material after receipt from a genebank by

selecting SSD lines or creating research populations, and use the changed material. (When

the project is over, often the research material is lost.) As a result the generated data cannot

be related directly to genebank material, and the genebank cannot supply the germplasm

that was analysed to other scientists. Even if the genebank material would be used directly

as conserved, and the generated information would be supplied back to the genebanks,

there would be large difficulties in actually incorporating the data in the genebanks

documentation systems. Using these results to actually search for PGR for use in the next

research cycle certainly would be a bridge too far.

Initiatives to create solutions, as developed by CGN, will be presented both for the issue of

research material and for the documentation issue. These include separating the

conservation and service tasks of genebanks, and semantic annotation and other

approaches to increase interoperability between genebank material, omics databases and

search interfaces.

26

Session 4: Future Challenges

Phenotyping applications for trait discovery and screening of crop genetic

resources

Fabio Fiorani1, Siegfried Jahnke1, Ulrich Schurr1

1 Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich/ Germany

The conservation of plant genetic resources is an important goal for broadening the trait

basis of key crops in future. The establishment of international gene banks has led to

renewed attention to germplasm conservation. Plant phenotyping research has advanced

rapidly in the last few years thanks to the development of improved methods based on

imaging approaches to characterize both plant structural and functional traits. Some of these

techniques are promising to characterize germplasm accessions both at the level of seed

collections and for plant phenology from seedling establishment to flowering and generative

stages. In this presentation we will highlight some of the opportunities that could be exploited

to support crop conservation strategies focusing in particular on imaging in the visible range

for seed and plant characterization. International efforts for germplasm conservation could

benefit in the future in establishing protocols for routine screening of seed resources and

systematic gathering of quantitative phenotypic data. These efforts would provide great value

to breeding programs that rely on the introduction of novel traits for increased productivity

and sustainable yield.

27

Reaching back through the domestication bottleneck: trends in tapping wild

plant biodiversity for crop improvement

Hannes Dempewolf1

1 Global Crop Diversity Trust, Bonn/ Germany

Crop domestication has led to a reduction in genetic diversity within crops, as only a narrow

range of diversity was selected by early farmers - an effect commonly described as the

domestication bottleneck. A broad range of genetic diversity is the essential raw material for

plant breeding, and therefore many breeders are keen to reach back through the

domestication bottleneck to make use of the diversity that can still be found in the ancestors

and wild relatives of crops (CWR). These taxa are increasingly recognized as an important

source of genetic variation for breeding efforts in general, and those that aim to help adapt

agriculture to climate change in particular. The list of possible traits that could be used to

enhance crop adaptation to the world's new climates is extensive, including everything from

enhanced root growth to faster grain filling. What reasons are there to think that such traits

can be found in the generally unimpressive-looking wild and weedy plants that are the

closest relatives of crops? We know that many CWRs grow in conditions of climate and soil

that are marginal for the crop. We also know that many show marked differences from the

crop, such as perenniality, fleshy roots and distinct phenology. Some of these are likely to be

of importance for adaptation. Here we explore how wild plant biodiversity may turn out to be

a crucial tool in our armoury to battle the perfect storm of ever-increasing world population,

high input costs and a rapidly changing climate.

28

Seed longevity of plant genetic resources - Genetic and biochemical markers

reveal mechanism of seed deterioration in barley

Manuela Nagel1; Andreas Börner1


The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation of the Convention on Biological Diversity

illustrates that our plant genetic resources have been given a priority status and need to be

conserved by in situ and ex situ approaches. Due to lower cost and better control especially

seed conservation is mainly used for most of the 7.4 Mio worldwide stored genebank

accessions. However, the ability of seeds to survive a certain period of time, termed seed

longevity, is strongly dependent on the growth conditions of the mother plant, pre-storage

and storage conditions and the genetic background. Strong differences in the shelf life of

seeds exist among species. The present study on barley accessions also shows differences

appearing between single genotypes. After a storage period of 34 years at 0°C most

accessions maintained high germination rates (> 90%) but in some cases depletions below

50% were observed. A follow up study investigates five mapping populations using

association and QTL mapping and different storage treatments, ranging from dry, long-term

stored material to experimental seed ageing using high oxygen pressure and discovered

major QTLs. The association panel using genebank accessions confirmed the genetic control

of seed longevity and linked it to a variety of abiotic and biotic stress reactions occurring

during different developmental stages. Reactive oxygen species and antioxidants are

assumed to be majorly involved in this reaction. To understand abiotic stress reaction

occurring during storage we investigate the relationships between the antioxidants

tocochromanols, glutathione (g-glutamyl-cysteinyl-glycine) and long-term stored and

artificially aged barley accessions. To assess abiotic stress the half-cell reduction potential of

glutathione was measured. Viability loss concurred with a shift towards more oxidizing

intracellular conditions, suggesting that oxidative stress contributes to seed deterioration

irrespective of ageing treatment.

29

Implementing genotyping-by-sequencing to assess genetic diversity in rye

Mona Schreiber1, Andreas Börner1, Martin Mascher1


Rye (Secale cereale L.) is a grass of the tribe Triticeae that is closely related to wheat and

barley. Rye is used as a staple food in Central and Eastern Europe. Its putative wild

progenitor Secale vavilovii Grossh is currently abundant in Central and Eastern Turkey and

neighbouring regions. First archaeological evidence for domesticated rye was found in pre-

pottery Neolithic sites in Turkey. In contrast to wheat and barley, rye remains are absent from

Central European sites until the early Bronze Age, indicating differences in the domestication

histories of rye and other cereals. The population genetic analysis of genome-wide marker

data can provide insights into the domestication process of rye. In a technical pilot project,

we employed genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) to assess the genetic diversity in 94 rye

samples from the IPK genebank (46 from the German rye cultivar ‘Petka’ and 48 from a S.

vavilovii accession from Armenia). Using a genetically ordered WGS assembly as a

reference for read mapping, we detected 50,372 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)

covered by at least 2x reads in 90% of the samples. Although the majority of SNPs were

segregating in both populations, both groups differentiate by a FST of 0.19 and the intra-

accession diversity was higher in S. vavilovii. We conclude that GBS is suitable for the

unbiased detection and genotyping of sequence variants in diverse rye germplasm,

underpinning future research into the genetic diversity and domestication history of rye.

30

Postersession

Intraspecific variation and genetic mapping of seed longevity in tobacco

Monika Agacka-Mołdoch1,2, Manuela Nagel2, Teresa Doroszewska1, Fiona R. Hay3,

Ramsey S. Lewis4, Andreas Börner2

1 Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation, State Research Institute, Puławy/ Poland

2 Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben/ Germany

3 International Rice Research Institute, Metro Manila/ Philippines

4 Crop Science Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh/ U.S.A

With the aim to gather information about seed longevity of the genus Nicotiana, the viability

of accessions stored at 20°C, 0°C and -15°C/-18°C for up to 12, 33, and 38 years,

respectively, at seed banks in Poland and Germany was investigated. Logistic regression

analysis was used to model the proportion of seed lots (accessions) with germination >75%.

Considering this threshold, seeds of tobacco can be successfully maintained under

controlled ambient conditions (20°C; paper bags) for up to ten years. At a storage

temperature of 0°C (glass jars) this period is extended to about 30 years whereas after 40

years of storage at a temperature of -15°C/-18°C (glass jars) about 60% of the accessions

show germination percentages higher than 75%. As in other genera an intraspecific variation

was noticeable. Therefore, a genetic study was initiated using an already genotyped

mapping population consisting of 122 recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between

the cultivars ‘Florida 301’ and ‘Hicks’. Four germination-related traits were investigated by

examining seeds either untreated or after controlled deterioration (CD): total germination (%),

normal germination (%), time to reach 50% of total germination (h), and the area under the

curve after 200 hours of germination. In total, four genomic regions located on four different

linkage groups were identified to be associated with the selected traits. Positive alleles for

the individual traits were contributed by both parents. A major quantitative trait locus (QTL)

for high percentage total germination located on linkage group 8/18 appeared in both control

and deteriorated seeds and was contributed by ‘Hicks’. In contrast, ‘Florida 301’ donated a

favorable allele for germination speed on linkage group 7 after CD only. Interestingly, the

position of this locus compared well with a QTL detected in the same population, in a former

study examining resistance against the black shank disease caused by Phytophthora

nicotianae. The effects of environmental growing conditions of the mother plants on seed

longevity will be discussed

31

Evaluation of wheat (Triticum aestivum) germplasm for frost tolerance by a

genome-wide association mapping approach

Fernando Alberto Arana-Ceballos1, Ulrike Lohwasser1, Michael Koch2, Yuriy Chesnokov3,

Tatyana Pshenichnikova4, Jörg Schondelmaier5, Steve Babben6, Dragan Perovic6, Frank

Ordon6, Andreas Börner1


2 Deutsche Saatveredelung AG (DSV), Lippstadt/ Germany

3 N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR), St. Petersburg/Russia

4 Inst. of Cytology and Genetics of Siberian Branch, RAS, Novosibirsk/ Russia

5 Saaten-Union Biotec GmbH, Leopoldshoehe/ Germany

6 Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), Quedlinburg/ Germany

Frost tolerance is a key trait with economic and agronomic importance in wheat but its

molecular and genetic background (a complex trait with polygenic inheritance) is still poorly

understood. The aims of the present study are (1) to generate information about genetic

variation for frost tolerance in a panel of 276 winter wheat accessions and (2) to find

molecular markers closely linked to the trait of frost tolerance. Frost tolerance phenotype

scores were collected from several locations in Germany and Russia during two seasons and

were combined with the genotypic data in genome wide association analyses (GWAS). The

genotyping was done employing ILLUMINA infinium iSelect 90k wheat chip. The chip carries

a total of 81.587 valid and functional SNPs. SNP associations were performed using liner

mixed models that evaluated the effects of SNPs with minor allele frequencies (MAF) > 10%

individually, adjusting for population structure and kinship. For the population structure

analysis, the Q-matrix for three groups was chosen as the best option; subsequent validation

confirmed its results and using an evolutionary tree calculated by the software ‘PAUP’,

showed three subgroups of North American, Russian and North and Middle European

genotypes. GWAS analyses of the most significant SNP loci (highly significant associations

(LOD>3) identified three and seven positive SNP associations at the chromosomes 1B and

5A respectively, using kinship. Haplotype analysis revealed that most of the significant SNP

loci for these positions represent an advantage for the evaluated genotypes. Validation of

SNPs and their respective haplotypes associated with frost tolerance together with candidate

gene based-association studies, will be performed in future studies to determine the

diagnostic value of markers for marker assisted selection in winter wheat breeding programs.

32

The genetic architecture of barley plant stature

Ahmad Alqudah1, Ravi Koppolu1, Gizaw Wolde1, Andreas Graner1, Thorsten Schnurbusch1


Tillering and plant height are complex agronomic traits which control plant stature and

represent important determinants of grain yield components. This study was designed to

reveal the genetic control of tillering at five developmental stages and plant height at harvest

in 218 world-wide spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) accessions under greenhouse

conditions. The accessions were structured based on row-type classes [two- versus six-

rowed] and photoperiod response [(photoperiod-sensitive (Ppd-H1) versus reduced

photoperiod sensitivity (ppd-H1)]. Phenotypic analyses of both factors revealed profound

between-group-effects on tiller formation and final plant height. To further verify the row-type

effect, Six-rowed spike 1 (vrs1) mutants and their two-rowed progenitors were examined for

tiller number per plant. Here, wild-type plants had significantly more tillers than mutants

suggesting a negative pleiotropic relationship for this row-type locus in tillering. Our genome-

wide association scans further revealed highly significant associations, thereby establishing a

novel link between the genetic control of row-type, heading time, tillering and plant height in

barley. We further show that associations for tillering and plant height co-locate with

chromosomal segments harboring known plant stature-related phytohormone encoding and

sugar-related genes. This work demonstrates the feasibility of the GWAS approach for

identifying putative candidate genes for improving plant architecture.

33

Association mapping studies on drought tolerance in bread wheat (Triticum

aestivum L.)

Annika Behrens1, Manuela Nagel1, Ulrike Lohwasser1, Fruzsina Szira2, István Monostori2,

Andreas Börner1


2 Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Martonvásár/ Hungary

Drought is an important abiotic stress and causes yield losses, worldwide. To study plant

behaviour and yield parameters under drought, an association mapping panel of 111

different spring wheat accessions was exposed to drought stress conditions (rain out shelter)

in Martonvásár, Hungary, in 2013. The accessions, originally chosen for their different seed

longevity after cold storage, were selected at the Federal Ex situ Genebank in Gatersleben

and came from 27 countries, across five continents. Three reps per accession were

subjected to three treatments carried out in a block design. First block was sown in the field

with a natural rainfall of 198 mm over the vegetation period; second block was a well irrigated

control given 240 mm water. The third block was planted under a movable rain out shelter

and 40 mm water per plant was given at the beginning. Yield parameters were evaluated for

identifying stress reactions. Recorded data were plant height, grain weight and thousand

kernel weight. The drought treatment had a significant influence on many traits. So is the

plant height under drought conditions in general 10 cm lower, than under irrigated control

conditions. Afterwards a genome-wide association mapping analysis was done using 2,134

DArT-markers with a total map length of 2,873 cM. The software STRUCTURE was used to

assign the population structure, which consist of six different sub-groups. In Tassel 2.01,

associations between the markers and phenotypic traits were calculated. For analysed traits

119 significant marker trait associations were found.

34

Genetic reserves for wild celery species (Apium and Helosciadium)

Maria Bönisch1, Tobias Herden2, Marion Nachtigall1, Nikolai Friesen2, Matthias Zander3,

Lothar Frese1


2 University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück/ Germany

3 Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin/ Germany

The signatory parties of the International Treaty (BGBl [Bundesgesetzblatt], 2003) stipulated

measures targeting at the in situ conservation of crop wild relatives and their sustainable use.

The Treaty explicitly calls for the maintenance of the intraspecific diversity at high level.

Indeed, the availability of intraspecific genetic variation is an elementary requirement for the

adaptation of populations to changing environmental conditions (Gregorius and Degen,

2007). The adaptability of a species can be perpetuated by the identification of populations

representing the spectrum of genetic diversity and by designation of their growing sites as

“genetic reserves” (Kell et al., 2012). The genetic reserve conservation technique was

elaborated by Maxted et al. (1997) and is considered a ready-to-operate procedure suited to

implement the in situ conservation strategy. Although the International Treaty is in force since

2004, yet no such genetic reserves exist in Germany.

The aim of the model and demonstration project „Genetic reserves for wild celery species

(Apium and Helosciadium) as component of a network of genetic reserves in Germany” (GE-

Sell) consists of the exemplary planning and development of such a network. To this end

occurrences of Apium graveolens subsp. graveolens, Helosciadium repens, H. nodiflorum

and H. inundatum representing the genetic diversity of each of these species within the

German part of their distribution area will be identified. Apium and Helosciadium species

serve as model objects because of their potential as genetic resources for plant breeding.

Moreover, the species are threatened to varying degrees in Germany. Therefore the

agrobiodiversity sector and the nature conservation sector share a common conservation

interest facilitating cooperation and the implementation of a conservation approach which

Maxted (2000) called a holistic governmental approach combining ex situ and in situ

conservation measures as well as the capacities of the agrobiodiversity and nature

conservation sector.

The project started in March 2015 with the compilation of distribution data provided by nature

conservation agencies. This data set was used to select 350 occurrences in Germany. Their

locations were visited by experts in 2015 who assessed the occurrences and sites. Based on

the experts’ reports, 100 occurrences will be selected and up to 30 plants per site will be

sampled in 2016. Currently, sets of SSR markers are being developed and evaluated to

analyse the genetic diversity within and between populations of the four species. Based on

35

the genetic data generated in 2017 and the suitability of a site for the long-term management

of a genetic reserve, around 45 genetic reserves sites will be proposed. Finally, a network of

these genetic reserves will be established with the support of local nature conservation

agencies and other stakeholders in 2018.

The project is funded by the BMEL and coordinated by the JKI. Project executing

organisation: BLE. Grant number 2814BM110.

Phenotyping genetic diversity of perennial ryegrass ecotypes (Lolium perenne

L.)

Alexandra Bothe1, Stephanie Nehrlich1; Evelin Willner1, Klaus, Dehmer1


Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is the most valued temperate grass species in

Europe. Between 2002 and 2010, a total of 352 Lolium perenne accessions originating from

four European countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Ireland and Spain) were evaluated in four

phenotyping experiments at the Malchow experimental station of the Leibniz Institute of Plant

Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK). Altogether 10 plant parameters were visually

scored, including development before and after winter, spring growth, plant biomass and

incidence of crown rust and disease symptoms (leaf spot symptoms). Accessions from

Croatia, Ireland and Spain were characterized by higher plant biomasses in the 2nd scoring

year than Bulgarian accessions. Considering the incidence of rust and diseases in perennial

ryegrass accessions, the present study showed that the variation for scored crown rust and

disease symptoms was higher in Irish and Bulgarian accessions. Correspondence analysis

(CA) was carried out to examine the relationship between scored traits and 352 L. perenne

accessions. The results presented in this study provide a brief description of Lolium perenne

accessions maintained at the Satellite Collections North of the IPK Genebank.

36

Dynamic management of winter barley genetic resources

Lorenz Bülow1, Lothar Frese1, Marion Nachtigall1, Frank Ordon1, Jens Léon2


2 Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn/ Germany

Genebanks apply static ex situ management systems to conserve plant genetic resources for

food and agriculture. By doing so, genebanks facilitate users’ access to germplasm and

related data. While genebanks maintain accessions, i. e. a spatial and temporal part of the

evolutionary process, dynamic management strategies aim at promoting the continued

adaptation of crops to changing environmental conditions (Bretting and Duvick, 1997). An

effective and efficient approach for a dynamic management system with wheat was

described by Goldringer et al. (2001) and is being developed by the INRA at Le Moulon

(France) towards an on-farm management system involving farmers. The transfer of this

approach to barley was recommended by the German Federal Ministry of Food and

Agricultural in its expert program for plant genetic resources and the Julius Kühn-Institut was

requested to develop an institutional network for the dynamic management of winter barley

genetic resources.

From a total of 227 German winter barley varieties released between 1914 and 2003, a set of

58 varieties was genetically analyzed using SSR markers. Among these, 32 genotypes

representing the genetic diversity of the whole set were selected to produce a highly

recombinant winter barley population. In the years 2008 to 2015, the 32 selected winter

barley varieties were crossed according to the Multi-parent Advanced Generation Inter-Cross

(MAGIC, Cavanagh et al., 2008) scheme resulting in a set of lines with each line being a

descendent of all 32 initial varieties and thus harboring parts of all 32 initial genomes. Aliquot

amounts of seeds from 324 of these lines were combined in 2015 to form a highly

heterozygous population and grown for multiplication.

Starting in 2016, sub-populations of this material will continuously be grown under high and

low input conditions at different locations within Germany. In order to promote the

development of differently adapted germplasm, 10 ecogeographically contrasting locations

within Germany were selected. Adaptation of winter barley sub-populations to different

climatic, soil and agricultural input conditions will be monitored for at least 6 years. Based on

samples taken in each year, changes in the allele frequencies within and between locations

will be monitored at the DNA level. In parallel, an information system will be developed for

consistent documentation of varieties and lines, crossing schemes, composition of (sub-)

populations, cultivation conditions, characterization and evaluation data, and for subsequent

data analysis.

37

As a long-term result, an institutional network for the dynamic management of winter barley

genetic resources will be realized comprised of populations and sub-populations cultivated at

different locations and exhibiting a wide genetic variation within and between populations,

adapted to regional agricultural conditions, and with potential for future adaptation to climate

changes. The network will be supported by a consistent documentation. All plant genetic

resources developed by the network will be publicly available according to the rules of the

Multilateral System of the International Treaty.

The current project has in parts been funded by GFP and BMBF.

38

Characterization of agronomic traits and locating exotic genes, which control

agronomic traits under contrasting nitrogen supply in the wild barley nested

association mapping population HEB-25

Paul Herzig1, Andreas Maurer1, Vera Draba1, 2, Klaus Pillen1

1 Inst. of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, MLU Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/ Germany.

2 Interdisciplinary Center for Crop Plant Research (IZN), Halle/ Germany.

Plant response to nitrogen (N) deficiency is a crucial component of yield and is of special

importance in future agriculture to increase nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) to avoid nitrogen

pollution of water and soil. Moreover, to maintain sustainable barley production there is an

increased demand of new nitrogen stress tolerant cultivars. However, the reservoir of novel

useful alleles in the elite barley gene pool is low. This loss of genetic diversity in barley

during domestication is counteracted by utilizing nested association mapping (NAM).

Therefore, to create HEB-25, the first barley NAM population, 25 highly divergent wild barley

accessions were crossed with the elite barley cultivar Barke. This population consists of

1,420 highly diverse BC1S3 lines.

In the present study we utilized HEB-25 to investigate five agronomic traits (e.g. flowering

time, plant height), six yield component traits (e.g. number of ears per square meter,

thousand grain weight) and plot yield under contrasting N supply with a 60 kg N/ha difference

during the seasons 2014 and 2015.

We found variation between N treatments and among HEB lines for most traits. Furthermore

we carried out genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to detect favorable exotic alleles,

which regulate agronomic traits under nitrogen stress. For tillering for example we found an

exotic allele on chromosome 2H, which considerably increased the number of tillers, even

under low nitrogen supply.

These exotic alleles can be of particular interest for breeders to develop new cultivars with an

increased nitrogen efficiency. Subsequent analyses will be conducted to determine the

content of grain nutrients. These measurements include the macro nutrients N, P, K, Mg, Ca

and S, as well as the micro nutrients Cu, Mn, Zn, B, Fe, Al and Mo.

39

Germinability Prediction For Barley Seeds With Hyperspectral Imaging And

Mathematical Modelling

Katharina Holstein¹, Beate Dutschk¹, Manuela Nagel², Andreas Börner², Udo Seiffert¹

¹ Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF), Magdeburg/ Germany

² Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben/ Germany

Crop plants possess not only a high value for world sustenance but play also an important

role in ecology, agronomy, and economy. The demand for high quality plant products is

growing with an increasing world population. At the same time, the demand as animal feed

and sustainable raw materials for fiber and fuel substitutions is also growing.

Half of the world sustenance is met by rice, wheat, and corn. Over the centuries, crop plants

have been adapted in fertility, resistance, and yield. However, focusing on only a few efficient

cultivars, risks are high that the genetic diversity is lost. To maintain plant genetic resources,

unique material (also called accessions) is kept in in situ or as viable seeds in ex situ

collections. This material can either be used to restart agriculture in cases of ecological and

political disasters or used for plant breeding and crop improvements.

The Federal ex situ gene bank in Gatersleben houses more than 150.000 accessions. Seed

viability maintenance is a key factor for management ex situ collections but is labor intensive

as each accession has to be frequently tested for germination. In addition, high germinability

tested in time consuming procedures is also an important feature for plant breeders and seed

producers.

Automation of germination essays would reduce labor and yield reproducible on the

germinability. Several patents on germination evaluation already exist. However, germination

prediction is a topic of ongoing research as methods are either not real time capable, only

applicable for individual accessions, invasive, or not accurate enough.

Here, we propose a novel method that allows non-invasive and high-throughput germinability

prediction: hyperspectral imaging is used to evaluate the biochemical composition of seed

material in an optical matter. The spectrum of the seed surface in visible and near infrared

light is used to generate a mathematical model. We applied methods of machine learning to

predict viability of a single seed and, consequently, provide germinability for the overall

essay.

40

Toward fine mapping of a powdery mildew resistance gene in a Hordeum

vulgare/ bulbosum introgression line

Parastoo Hoseinzadeh1, Martin Mascher1, Brigitte Ruge-Wehling2, Patrick Schweizer1, Nils

Stein1


2 Julius Kühn-Institute (JKI), Groß Lüsewitz/ Germany

Powdery mildew (PM) caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei (Bgh) is one of the main

foliar diseases on barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) leading to severe economic losses worldwide.

For disease resistance, wild barley relatives have been considered as valuable genetic

diversity resources in barley breeding. However, most sources of PM resistance have been

overcome by the emergence of new virulent races within the pathogen. Therefore, new

durable and broadly acting sources of resistance are necessary for a long-term success of

disease resistance in barley. The secondary gene pool of barley (Hordeum bulbosum L.) is a

potential source of resistance genes for barley improvement. Despite crossing barriers,

hybridization and recombination between two Hordeum genomes allow the introgression of

H. bulbosum chromosome segments into barley carrying novel resistance genes. The

phytopathological data obtained from inoculation experiments of Bgh isolates from H.

bulbosum onto H. vulgare genotypes resulted in strong, race-nonspecific resistance with or

without the hypersensitive response in barley.

The aim of the project is to positionally clone a H. bulbosum-derived resistance gene

introgressed to cultivated barley. Novel Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers will

be developed by genotyping-by-sequencing for a Hordeum vulgare/bulbosum introgressions

line conferring resistance to Bgh. Resistant recombinants with small introgression size and a

high marker density will be used for map-based cloning of genes underlying Bgh resistance.

Based on the physical/genetic map, gene-flanking markers will be employed to identify a

barley BAC contig corresponding to the orthologous region of the H. bulbosum genome. RNA

sequencing on Bgh-infected leaf segments of the near isogenic lines carrying and not

carrying the smallest detectable H. bulbosum introgression will help to identify differentially

expressed genes.

41

A step towards a causal model of flowering time in barley

Andreas Maurer1, Vera Draba1,2, Yong Jiang3, Florian Schnaithmann1, Erika Schumann1,

Jochen C. Reif3 & Klaus Pillen1

1 University of Halle-Wittenberg, Inst. of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Halle/ Germany

2 Interdisciplinary Center for Crop Plant Research (IZN), Halle/ Germany


Flowering time is a major agronomic trait determining yield potential and yield stability of crop

plants. We developed the first nested association mapping (NAM) population, HEB-25, in an

autogamous crop species, barley, and used it to study biodiversity and to dissect the genetic

architecture of flowering time. Upon cultivation of 1,420 HEB lines in multi-field trials and

applying a genome-wide association study, eight major quantitative trait loci (QTL) were

identified to control flowering time. These eight QTL accounted for 64% of the cross-

validated proportion of explained genotypic variance (pG) identifying them as main

determinants of flowering time in barley. The strongest QTL effect corresponded to the

known photoperiod response gene Ppd-H1, where the exotic allele caused an acceleration of

flowering time of up to 11 days compared to the cultivated allele. Applying a whole genome

prediction model including main effects and epistatic interactions between genes allowed to

extend the cross-validated proportion of pG to an extraordinary high level of 77%. These

findings represent a first step towards the development of a causal model for flowering time

regulation in barley. We conclude that HEB-25 and the exotic biodiversity present therein are

valuable toolboxes to support dissecting the genetic architecture of important agronomic

traits and to replenish the elite barley breeding pool with favorable, trait-improving exotic

alleles.

42

BRIDGE project: Biodiversity informatics for harnessing barley genetic

diversity hosted at the genebank of IPK Gatersleben.

Sara Giulia Milner1, Axel Himmelbach1, Markus Oppermann1, Andreas Graner1, Helmut

Knüpffer1, Uwe Scholz1, Andreas Börner1, Martin Mascher1, Nils Stein1


Genomics and biodiversity informatics are rising as fundamental tools to harness genetic

resources harbored in germplasm collections, which represent essential albeit mostly

untapped reservoirs of genetic diversity for crop research and improvement. The BRIDGE

project aims to molecularly characterize more than 20,000 accessions of wild

(Hordeum vulgare L. subsp. spontaneum (K. Koch) Thell.) and domesticated

(Hordeum vulgare L. subsp. vulgare) barley hosted at the German ex situ genebank at IPK

Gatersleben, by means of a genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) approach. GBS data will be

analyzed in context of the barley genomic framework to study population structure and

genetic diversity patterns and also to mine allelic variation at breeding-relevant traits. A novel

warehouse infrastructure will provide a systematic valorization to the upcoming genomics

data and a link to the passport and phenotypic data accumulated by the IPK genebank

conservation management. Here, we describe our bioinformatics pipeline for read mapping,

variant detection and genotyping. First results of the GBS analysis conducted on more than

3,000 barley accessions will be presented.

43

Wild relatives as resources of novel genetic variation for improved resistance

to diseases and pests in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)

Marion Nachtigall1,Ramona Thieme2, Thilo Hammann2


2 Julius Kühn-Institute (JKI), Groß Lüsewitz/ Germany

This research is done in co-operation with the following national and international research institutions:

BTL Bio-Test Lab GmbH Sagerheide, Germany; N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry, St.-Petersburg,

Russian Federation; ‘Babeş-Bolyai’ University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; North-west A&F University,

Yangling, Shaanxi, China; Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute, Radzików, Poland; Agrifood

Research Finland, Jokionen, Finland; Potato Research Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada;

Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Institute for Agro-Biology Hanoi, Trauqui-Gialam-Hanoi,

Vietnam

More than 200 wild species related to potato have been reported in Central and South

America, some of which have potential as genetic resources for improving pest and patho

gen resistance of cultivated potato. Only few of these species have actually been used in

potato breeding programmes, mainly due to sexual crossing barriers. As a result, the gene

pool actively used for breeding purposes has hardly been replenished during the past 100

years. To increase the genetic diversity of common potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)

germplasm, wild relatives may be tapped as genetic resources, either via sexual crosses or

by means of somatic hybridization. Both of these approaches are applied in a long-term

evaluation and pre-breeding programme run at the JKI Experimental Station of Potato

Breeding, Groß Lüsewitz. Genebank accessions held by the IPK Gatersleben of diploid

tuber-bearing wild species from Mexico were evaluated for their resistance to late blight

caused by Phytophthora infestans (Pi), to viruses (Potato Virus Y, PVY) and their vectors, to

the Colorado potato beetle (CPB), as well as to nematodes. Solanum cardiophyllum, S.

pinnatisectum, S. tarnii prove resistant to Pi and CPB and show extreme resistance to PVY.

As expected, S. bulbocastanum is highly resistant to Pi, just as S. demissum is resistant to Pi

and nematodes. More than 1,600 somatic hybrids and progenies of inter-specific crosses

have been produced to introgress genes from wild species into the crop. Pre-breeding

materials have been developed that combine Pi resistance, good agronomic traits, tuber

shape, and table quality. The close association of late-blight resistance and late maturity

commonly known from current potato cultivars has been resolved in several JKI pre-breeding

clones by means of conventional breeding methods. As a result, breeding of cultivars

combining high Pi resistance and early or middle-early ripening has become feasible.

Furthermore, the JKI pre-breeding clones may offer a starting point for basic research on the

genetics and molecular mechanisms of a panel of resistances to diseases and pests.

44

Imaging genetics – time dependent QTL detection for biomass development in

barley

Kerstin Neumann1, Yusheng Zhao1, Jianting Chu1, Sidram Dhanagond1, Jochen Reif1,

Benjamin Kilian2, Andreas Graner1


2 Innovation Center, BCS R&D, Bayer CropScience NV, Gent/ Belgium

In a world of ever growing food demand, yield stability and yield increase is a focus of

breeding research. One factor contributing to the yield complex is the vegetative

biomass although its relationship is not fully understood. The first puzzle piece to

resolve this question is to understand the genetic architecture of above ground

biomass throughout the vegetative growth period. In the past mainly destructive

measurements with high manual effort enabled only end-point analysis, especially for

larger collections. Trait life history was unknown harboring the risk of identifying

results only valid for a particular developmental stage. The aim of this study was to

determine daily biomass development in spring barley using an image-based HTP

system with the perspective of genome wide association scan for biomass. Using

GWAS in combination with daily assessment will offer new insights into the genetic

architecture of biomass throughout the vegetative growth period. In total three

consecutive experiments were performed for 100 two rowed spring barley genotypes

with 5 replicates per genotype. Each experiment lasted 58 days and pots were daily

imaged watered to a target weight corresponding to 90% field capacity. The barley

collection was genotyped using the 9K iSelect platform.

The collection showed a wide phenotypic distribution in biomass, especially towards

the end of the experiment. The ranking of individual genotypes was not consistent

during early and late stages of the experiment according to the missing correlation of

early and late biomass. Broad sense heritabilities throughout the investigation time

were medium to high and very promising for genetic studies. For GWAS mixed linear

model including the kinship was applied to biomass data of every day. Time

dependent pattern of biomass architecture became visible. Over the entire growth

period, a total of 140 SNPs were associated with biomass and related traits. Early

and late biomass was accounted for by different QTLs. Our results revealed that

biomass QTLs were often in the vicinity of flowering and developmental genes.

Notwithstanding this, additional loci were obtained. With a subset of the genotype

45

panel we performed two independent experiments to estimate final plant grain and

straw weight at maturity. Correlation to vegetative image based biomass and final

straw biomass were high from ~ day 50 on, indicating the duration of experiments

needed to predict genotypes with a higher final biomass. Further, we obtained a

positive relationship of vegetative and final biomass to plant grain weight.

Influence of individual chromosomes on double haploid (DH) production of

bread wheat

Myroslava Rubtsova1, Astrid Junker1, Kerstin Neumann1, Ingo Muecke1, Andreas Börner1,

Thomas Altman1


Production of double haploid plants (DH) is a proven method to obtain homozygous

individuals in a single step. Thus, the method is useful for crop improvement and in many

areas of basic research related to plant developmental biology. With an efficient plant

regeneration system, gametic cells are preferred targets for genetic transformation and

transgenic studies. DHs are frequently used in plant genome mapping. The direct access to

single-cells and the formation of true embryo-like structures (ELS) makes anther culture an

ideal system for studies of embryogenesis and other aspects of plant developmental biology.

Haploid technologies based on androgenesis take advantage of the large amount of

microspores which are produced by a single plant to develop new strategies in the

production of homozygous lines. It has been demonstrated that overall wheat haploid plant

production from anther culture is controlled by at least three different and independently

inherited traits (Lantos et al. 2013) and is determined by a number of factors such as: ELS

induction rate, their regeneration ability and the ratio of green to albino plants. We

investigated a manifestation of these traits in nulli-tetrasomic lines of wheat by growing them

in greenhouse and phytotron conditions and we showed that chromosomes 2B, 1D, 3D and

7D of bread wheat carry the factors which are essential to stimulate ELS production.

Chromosome 3D has a positive effect on regeneration capacity of ELS and on albino plants

formation, while chromosomes 3A and 3B contain gene(s) which significantly reduce the

formation of albino plants. Chromosomes 2A, 1B, 3B, 7B and 6D carry the factors which

decrease ELS production.

46

Identifying the components of salinity tolerance using a Nested Association

Mapping barley population

Stephanie Saade1, Mohammed Shahid2, Chris Brien3, Bettina Berger4, Andreas Maurer5,

Sónia Negrão1, Klaus Pillen5 and Mark Tester1

1 Center for Desert Agriculture, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia

2 International Center of Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

3 Phenomics and Bioinformatics Research Centre, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

4 The Plant Accelerator®, University of Adelaide, Urrbrae, Australia

5 Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/Saale, Germany

The need to feed an ever-increasing population remains one of the major concerns of

humanity, especially given that the available area of arable lands is limited. Hence, many

research groups, including “The Salt Lab” at KAUST, are interested in making crops more

tolerant to abiotic stresses, such as high soil salinity. Salt is a major limiting factor that affects

plant growth and yield. Therefore, identifying loci associated with different traits that

contribute to salinity tolerance can help breeders improve crops.

In this study, the effect of salinity on HEB-25 barley population is being investigated under

both controlled and field conditions. HEB-25, developed by Professor Klaus Pillen, is a

Nested Association Mapping population, where Barke (the recipient) is crossed with 25 wild

barley donors from the fertile crescent. Growth of seedlings is measured in control and salt-

stressed barley using non-destructive, high-throughput imaging facilities available at The

Plant Accelerator® (Adelaide, Australia). The effect of salinity on harvest index, yield, and

other important agronomic traits is evaluated in the field at the International Center for

Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA, Dubai, UAE).

Preliminary results obtained from both controlled environment and field experiments will be

presented to highlight the effects of high soil salinity on barley and to suggest putative QTLs

associated with salinity tolerance.

47

Magic Wheat WM-800: Targeted breeding of winter wheat elite cultivars

Wiebke Sannemann1, Ebrahim Kazman2, Hilmar Cöster3, Hubert Kempf4, Erhard Ebmeyer5,

Tanja Gerjets6, Klaus Pillen1

1 Chair of Plant Breeding, University Halle-Wittenberg/ Germany

2 Syngenta Hadmersleben GmbH , Oschersleben/ Germany

3 RAGT 2n, Silstedt/ Germany

4 Secobra Saatzucht GmbH, Feldkirchen/ Germany

5 KWS Lochow, Bergen,Wohlde/ Germany

6 Pro Weizen, Bonn/ Germany

The MAGIC-WHEAT project pursues the goal of breeding new winter wheat cultivars with

improved features concerning yield, quality, pathogen resistance and nutrient efficiency.

Therefore, most recent methods such as SNP genotyping, haplotype construction, mixed-

model-association of quantitative trait loci (QTLs), marker assisted selection (MAS) and

genomic selection (GS) will be used to identify and select improved genotypes.

The WM-800 population is based on an eight-way-cross, according to Cavanagh et al. 2008,

of modern European winter wheat varieties. The donors differ in pathogen resistance as well

as for several agronomic properties, including yield and yield components, grain quality and

baking characteristics. Consequently, WM-800 will be tested in field plots for their phenotypic

performance under two nitrogen treatments at four locations in Germany. Screening or

pathogen resistance will take place at five locations in double rows.

WM-800 will be genotyped with the 15k SNP chip from TraitGenetics. Polymorphic markers

will be used for estimation of haplotypes in WM-800 lines. Haplotypes are needed in order to

meet the outstanding opportunities and statistical power of this population in a marker-trait

association. Results from the association mapping with relevant effects for breeders will be

used for further fine mapping and marker assisted selection. The polymorphic SNPs will be

used on the other hand for genomic selection.

Currently, 1387 F4 lines of the eight-way-cross are growing in the field at the project partner

SYNGENTA. 27 KASP markers were genotyped to estimate genetic similarity between the

F4-lines and to dismiss identical genotypes. Plant height of each F4-line was measured and

associated to the KASP marker for Rht-B1 and Rht-D1. The results proved the occurrence of

double semi-dwarf lines in WM-800.

Cavanagh C, Morell M, Mackay I, Powell W (2008) From mutations to MAGIC: resources for

gene discovery, validation and delivery in crop plants Curr Opin Plant Biol 11:215-221

48

Complex study of postzygotic reproductive barriers between common wheat

(T. aestivum L.) and rye (S. cereale L.)

Natalia Tikhenko1,2, Twan Rutten2, Angelika Senula2, Anatoliy Voylokov1, Natalia

Tsvetkova3, Joachim Keller2, Andreas Börner2

1 SPb Branch Vavilov Institute of General Genetics (RAS), St. Petersburg/ Russia


3 St.-Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg/ Russia

Reproductive isolation (RI) is a general evolutionary mechanism for maintaining species

identity. Postzygotic RI in plants occurs after the double fertilization event. The effects

become apparent during the subsequent hybrid development in the shape of fitness

aberration or lethality in offspring generations. As part of the intergeneric gene interactions

within the complex triticale genome, a genetic approach was designed to elucidate and map

the wide spectrum of speciation genes in these wheat-rye hybrids. Basic information was

obtained from crosses between the well-characterized common wheat cultivar ‘Chinese

Spring’ (CS) and a large set of rye inbred lines. The uniformity of the resulting F1 hybrids

allows an easy recognition of abnormal traits. This was followed by a segregation analysis of

hybrids between CS and corresponding interline F1 rye hybrids. The best-understood

example is the identification of genes which are involved in RI at the early stage of embryo

development (embryo lethality) and at the tillering stage (hybrid dwarfness). In both cases

hybrid incompatibility is the result of a negative complementary interaction between wheat

and rye genes. These genes were named Eml-R1 and Eml-A1 for embryo lethality and Hdw-

R1 for hybrid dwarfness respectively. Eml-R1 and Hdw-R1 rye genes both have two alleles

which are either compatible (Eml-R1a, Hdw-R1a) or incompatible (Eml-R1b, Hdw-R1b) with

the wheat genome. Rye gene Eml-R1 and wheat gene Eml-A1 were mapped on

chromosomes 6R rye and 6A wheat, respectively. Opportunity of the framing on this basis a

model for studying the differences in interaction and expression of incompatible genes for

both parents on the identical genetic background is discussed.

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