An association mapping analysis of dormancy and pre-harvest sprouting in wheat M. A. Rehman Arif • K. Neumann • M. Nagel • B. Kobiljski • U. Lohwasser • A. Bo ¨rner Received: 10 January 2012 / Accepted: 19 April 2012 / Published online: 1 May 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract Seed dormancy and pre-harvest sprouting are important traits in bread wheat. Bi-parental populations have permitted the identification of sev- eral genes/quantitative trait loci controlling these traits, mapping to various bread wheat chromosomes. Here, we report the use of association mapping to uncover the genetic basis of both traits in a panel of 96 diverse winter wheat cultivars to establish the pres- ence of marker-trait associations on many chromo- somes. Potential candidate genes were identified by studying the gene content of the chromosome bins into which the major marker trait associations mapped. Keywords Chromosome bin Á Germination Á DArT Á Marker-trait associations Á Triticum aestivum Introduction Dormancy, or the non-germination of a viable mature seed under favourable conditions (Simpson 1990), is the mirror image of pre-harvest sprouting (PHS), which describes the phenomenon of germination while the seed remains attached to the mother plant, usually induced by wet conditions after maturity and before harvest. In some years, PHS can be severe enough to markedly downgrade cereal grain quality, and even grain yield. An intensive search for the genetic basis of dormancy and PHS identified controlling genes (or quantitative trait loci, QTL) located on most wheat chromosomes, but particularly on chromosomes 2A, 2B, 2D, 3A, 3B, 3D, 4A, 4B, 6B, 6D and 7D. (Flintham 2000; Flintham et al. 2002; Kato et al. 2001; Groos et al. 2002; Osa et al. 2003; Kulwal et al. 2005; Lohwasser et al. 2005; Mori et al. 2005; Mares et al. 2009). Genes belonging to the viviparous-1 family have been associated with a component of PHS tolerance in a number of cereal species (Xia et al. 2008; Chang et al. 2011), while in wheat, a major portion of PHS resistance is imparted by the R gene series, genes that are readily recognized by red grain pigmentation (Foley and Fennimore 1998; Flintham et al. 2002). The aleurone layer plays a key role in PHS, because it is the site of a number of germination- associated enzymes (Bethke et al. 2002). With respect to dormancy, the sensitivity of the embryo to abscisic acid (ABA) has been suggested to be a critical factor (Noda et al. 2002). A common approach taken to uncovering the genetic basis of dormancy and PHS has been the use of conventional mapping populations. Association mapping (AM) is an emerging alternative for M. A. Rehman Arif Á K. Neumann Á M. Nagel Á U. Lohwasser Á A. Bo ¨rner (&) Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Corrensstrasse 3, 06466 Gatersleben, Germany e-mail: boerner@ipk-gatersleben.de B. Kobiljski Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Maksima Gorkog 30, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia 123 Euphytica (2012) 188:409–417 DOI 10.1007/s10681-012-0705-1