Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Theoretical and Applied Genetics https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-018-3107-5 ORIGINAL ARTICLE QTL mapping of pre‑harvest sprouting resistance in a white wheat cultivar Danby Mingqin Shao 1  · Guihua Bai 2  · Trevor W. Rife 3  · Jesse Poland 3  · Meng Lin 1  · Shubing Liu 1  · Hui Chen 1  · Tadele Kumssa 4  · Allan Fritz 1  · Harold Trick 3  · Yan Li 1  · Guorong Zhang 1,4 Received: 3 March 2018 / Accepted: 2 May 2018 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Key message One major and three minor QTLs for resistance to pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) were identified from a white wheat variety “Danby.” The major QTL on chromosome 3A is TaPHS1, and the sequence variation in its promoter region was responsible for the PHS resistance. Additive × additive effects were detected between two minor QTLs on chromosomes 3B and 5A, which can greatly enhance the PHS resistance. Abstract Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) causes significant losses in yield and quality in wheat. White wheat is usually more susceptible to PHS than red wheat. Therefore, the use of none grain color-related PHS resistance quantitative trait loci (QTLs) is essential for the improvement in PHS resistance in white wheat. To identify PHS resistance QTLs in the white wheat cultivar “Danby” and determine their effects, a doubled haploid population derived from a cross of Danby × “Tiger” was genotyped using genotyping-by-sequencing markers and phenotyped for PHS resistance in two greenhouse and one field experiments. One major QTL corresponding to a previously cloned gene, TaPHS1, was consistently detected on the chromosome arm 3AS in all three experiments and explained 21.6–41.0% of the phenotypic variations. A SNP (SNP−222) in the promoter of TaPHS1 co-segregated with PHS in this mapping population and was also significantly associated with PHS in an association panel. Gene sequence comparison and gene expression analysis further confirmed that SNP−222 is most likely the causal mutation in TaPHS1 for PHS resistance in Danby in this study. In addition, two stable minor QTLs on chromosome arms 3BS and 5AL were detected in two experiments with allele effects consistently contributed by Danby, while one minor QTL on 2AS was detected in two environments with contradicted allelic effects. The two stable minor QTLs showed significant additive × additive effects. The results demonstrated that pyramiding those three QTLs using breeder- friendly KASP markers developed in this study could greatly improve PHS resistance in white wheat. Introduction Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) occurs when physiologically matured spikes are exposed to a long wet period in the field before harvest (Cabral et al. 2014; Li et al. 2004; Mares and Mrva 2014). PHS may cause significant losses of grain yield and quality due to degraded starch and protein in germinated kernels (Flintham 2000; Shorinola et al. 2016). In the USA, PHS caused million dol- lars of losses to wheat growers in Washington State in 2013 alone (Steber et al. 2014). The average annual losses due to PHS are approximately $100 million in Canada and more than $1 billion worldwide (DePauw et al. 2012). Compared with red wheat, white wheat usually has sweeter taste, higher flour yield and lighter color for its end- use products, making it more attractive for making Asian noodle, steamed bread and many whole wheat flour-based Communicated by Mark E. Sorrells. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-018-3107-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Guorong Zhang gzhang@ksu.edu 1 Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA 2 USDA-ARS, Plant Science and Entomology Research Unit, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA 3 Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA 4 Agricultural Research Center-Hays, Kansas State University, Hays, KS 67601, USA