A genome-wide association study of malting quality across eight U.S. barley breeding programs.

We report malt quality QTLs relevant to breeding with greater precision than previous mapping studies. The distribution of favorable alleles suggests strategies for marker-assisted breeding and germplasm exchange. This study leverages the breeding data of 1,862 barley breeding lines evaluated in 97 field trials for genome-wide association study of malting quality traits in barley.

Interactions between the root pathogen Rhizoctonia solani AG-8 and acetolactate-synthase-inhibiting herbicides in barley.

Background: The widespread acceptance of reduced-tillage farming in cereal cropping systems in the Pacific Northwest of the United States has resulted in increased use of herbicides for weed control. However, soil residual concentrations of widely used imidazalone herbicides limit the cultivation of barley, which is more sensitive than wheat. In addition, increased severity of the root rot disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani is associated with reduction in tillage.

Single nucleotide mutation in the barley acetohydroxy acid synthase (AHAS) gene confers resistance to imidazolinone herbicides.

Induced mutagenesis can be an effective way to increase variability in self-pollinated crops for a wide variety of agronomically important traits. Crop resistance to a given herbicide can be of practical value to control weeds with efficient chemical use. In some crops (for example, wheat, maize, and canola), resistance to imidazolinone herbicides (IMIs) has been introduced through mutation breeding and is extensively used commercially.

Towards systems genetic analyses in barley: Integration of phenotypic, expression and genotype data into GeneNetwork.

Background: A typical genetical genomics experiment results in four separate data sets; genotype, gene expression, higher-order phenotypic data and metadata that describe the protocols, processing and the array platform. Used in concert, these data sets provide the opportunity to perform genetic analysis at a systems level. Their predictive power is largely determined by the gene expression dataset where tens of millions of data points can be generated using currently available mRNA profiling technologies.

A centromeric region on chromosome 6(6H) affects dormancy in an induced mutant in barley.

Genetic control of seed dormancy in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) has mostly been described in terms of quantitative variation. Although some molecular markers for dormancy QTL have been identified, the corresponding genes involved in the regulation of the process have not been cloned.