Isolation and characterization of Viviparous-1 haplotypes in wheat related species Y. W. Sun • Y. Yang • P. R. Shewry • H. D. Jones • L. Q. Xia Received: 22 July 2011 / Accepted: 6 March 2012 / Published online: 1 April 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) resistance is one of the most important traits in wheat breeding. Characterization of Viviparous-1 (Vp-1) haplotypes in wheat related species will further our understanding of the role of Vp-1 in PHS resistance of bread wheats. The present paper reported Vp-1 haplotype analyzes of 77 accessions of wheat related species including T. monococcum and T. boeoticum (A m A m ), T. durum (AABB), T. dicoccoides (AABB) and Ae. tauschii (DD). A total of 11 novel Vp-1 haplotypes were identified in these species including three in T. monococcum which were designated as TmVp- 1A1, TmVp-1A2, TmVp-1A3, three in T. boeoticum, designated as TbVp-1A1, TbVp-1A2 and TbVp-1A3, two in T. durum, designated as TduVp-1B1 and TduVp- 1B2, and three in Ae. tauschii designated as AetVp- 1D1, AetVp-1D2 and AetVp-1D3, respectively. Among these haplotypes explored, TduVp-1B1 was identical to TaVp-1Be which was detected in a PHS resistant Chinese landrace. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that the presence of alternatively spliced transcripts of the Vp-1 homo- logues in these wheat related species. The level of correctly spliced transcripts varies among the haplo- types, and was correlated with the degree of ABA responsiveness during seed germination. It appeared that Vp-1 mis-splicing and some indel variations in bread wheats originated from its progenitors and were retained during polyploidization. Moreover, haplo- types with better Vp-1 splicing such as TbVp-1A2 of T. boeoticum and TduVp-1B1 of T. durum species might be valuable in breeding PHS tolerant wheat. Keywords Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L) Á Wheat related species Á Vp-1 Á Haplotype Á Pre-harvest sprouting Á ABA sensitivity Abbreviations PHS Pre-harvest sprouting Vp-1 Viviparous-1 ABA Abscisic acid GI Germination index Y. W. Sun, Y. Yang contributed equally to the work. Y. W. Sun Á L. Q. Xia (&) Institute of Crop Science/The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China e-mail: xialq@mail.caas.net.cn Y. Yang Colleges of Life Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, 306 Zhaowuda Road, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China P. R. Shewry Á H. D. Jones Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK 123 Euphytica (2012) 188:71–84 DOI 10.1007/s10681-012-0659-3