Genetic characterization of primitive and wild wheat species using SSR markers

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops, occupying a significant place in human nutrition. With the continuously increasing population, there is a need to increase the food production by 70%. However, climate change is expected to decrease wheat production by 2050. One of the main reasons behind this is the decreased tolerance of modern wheat genotypes towards stressed environmental conditions. This can be attributed to decreased genetic diversity in modern wheat cultivars due to continued domestication and breeding process. It is thus necessary to increase the genetic variation of existing wheat genotypes. Wild and primitive wheat species are important genetic resources with a tolerance to different stress-related traits. However, in order to utilize them effectively in pre-breeding and breeding programs, it is necessary to know the variation among these genetic resources and to determine their genetic distance as compared to modern cultivars. Consequently, in this study, we evaluated the genetic polymorphism, genetic relatedness, and allelic differences of primitive, wild, and modern wheat genotypes employing simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The obtained results revealed high genetic polymorphism within and between the studied species. The employed SSR markers were efficient in identifying the genetic variation of different wheat species. Both the scatterplot and dendrogram clustered the genotypes into two main groups, with one containing the hexaploid genotypes and the other containing the tetraploid genotypes. The results and the genetic variation information obtained in this study can be used in ongoing pre-breeding and breeding programs and will be a guide for new breeding studies aiming to develop stress-resistant wheat genotypes.

Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge BAP, Selcuk University (Grant No. 22401016), Turkiye, and the TUBITAK 1001 (Grant No. 119O455) project for the funding provided to conduct this research work.