Mapping of a Quantitative Trait Locus for Stay-Green Trait in Common Wheat.

The stay-green (SG) trait enhances photosynthetic activity during the late grain-filling period, benefiting grain yield under drought and heat stresses. CH7034 is a wheat breeding line with SG. To clarify the SG loci carried by CH7034 and obtain linked molecular markers, in this study, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from the cross between CH7034 and non-SG SY95-71 was genotyped using the Wheat17K single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, and a high-density genetic map covering 21 chromosomes and consisting of 2159 SNP markers was constructed. Then, the chlorophyll content of flag leaf from each RIL was estimated for mapping, and one QTL for SG on chromosome 7D was identified, temporarily named , with the maximum phenotypic variance explained of 8.81~11.46%. A PCR-based diagnostic marker for was developed, and the CH7034 allele of corresponded to the higher flag leaf chlorophyll content, while the SY95-71 allele corresponded to the lower value, which confirmed the genetic effect on SG of . located in the 526.4~556.2 Mbp interval is different from all the known SG loci on chromosome 7D, and 69 high-confidence annotated genes within the interval expressed throughout the entire period of flag leaf senescence. Moreover, results of an association analysis based on the diagnostic marker showed that there is a positive correlation between and thousand-grain weight. Our results revealed a novel QTL whose CH7034 allele had a strong effect on SG, which can be applied in further wheat molecular breeding.