Wheat EARLY FLOWERING 3 affects heading date without disrupting circadian oscillations.

Plant breeders have indirectly selected for variation at circadian-associated loci in many of the world's major crops, when breeding to increase yield and improve crop performance. Using an eight-parent Multiparent Advanced Generation Inter-Cross (MAGIC) population, we investigated how variation in circadian clock-associated genes contributes to the regulation of heading date in UK and European winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) varieties. We identified homoeologues of EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3) as candidates for the Earliness per se (Eps) D1 and B1 loci under field conditions.

Overexpression of the WAPO-A1 gene increases the number of spikelets per spike in bread wheat.

Two homoeologous QTLs for number of spikelets per spike (SPS) were mapped on chromosomes 7AL and 7BL using two wheat MAGIC populations. Sets of lines contrasting for the QTL on 7AL were developed which allowed for the validation and fine mapping of the 7AL QTL and for the identification of a previously described candidate gene, WHEAT ORTHOLOG OF APO1 (WAPO1). Using transgenic overexpression in both a low and a high SPS line, we provide a functional validation for the role of this gene in determining SPS also in hexaploid wheat.

A highly recombined, high-density, eight-founder wheat MAGIC map reveals extensive segregation distortion and genomic locations of introgression segments.

Multiparent Advanced Generation Intercross (MAGIC) mapping populations offer unique opportunities and challenges for marker and QTL mapping in crop species. We have constructed the first eight-parent MAGIC genetic map for wheat, comprising 18 601 SNP markers. We validated the accuracy of our map against the wheat genome sequence and found an improvement in accuracy compared to published genetic maps.