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Spring durum wheat occupies over 0.5 M ha in Kazakhstan and represents an important domestic and export commodity. This study aimed to characterize 151 durum wheat cultivars and advanced lines originating from eight breeding programs of the Kazakhstan–Siberia Spring Wheat Improvement Network (KASIB) between 2003 and 2018. The phenotypic characterization was performed in two contracting evaluation sites more than 1000 km apart (Almaty in the Southeast and Shortandy in the North) for two years and a total of 11 agronomic traits were recorded. Field trials at both locations followed regional agronomy practices, including sowing, harvesting, and genotype evaluation using a randomized complete block design (RCBD). The growing season was longer in Almaty, resulting in a higher number of grains per spike. Though grains are smaller in size with an overall higher yield, 243 g/m2 versus 170 g/m2, there was no correlation between germplasm performance at the two sites. Molecular characterization was performed with 10 iPBS-retrotransposons primers that resulted in a total of 345 bands and showed a mean polymorphism of 91.9%. Mean values of gene diversity (0.251), Shannon's information index (0.388), and expected heterozygosity (0.233) revealed a relatively high level of genetic diversity in the KASIB set. AMOVA revealed higher genetic variations due to differences within the populations. Marker-based cluster analysis, including STRUCTURE and neighbor-joining algorithms, divided the material into two populations with clear differences in geographic origin. Superiors and diverse germplasm identified in the study are recommended for marker assisted selection and breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited availability of nutrients to crops is a major agricultural concern. Deteriorated soil health and poor fertility status decrease the bioavailability of essential nutrients to the plants. Consequently, organic soil amendment biochar is gaining attention due to its potential benefits. Rhizobacterial inoculation, are also documented as an effective technology for mobilization of immobile nutrients in soil. However, limited literature is available on combined use of rhizobacteria and biochar. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the changes in the nutrient content of einkorn wheat and the change in some soil properties during the application of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) with biochar. Four doses of biochar (0, 2.5, 5, and 10%) were applied with and without PGPR in the study. Biochar increased the growth criteria such as plant fresh weight (PFW), plant dry weight (PDW), root fresh weight (RFW), root dry weight (RDW), number of tillers, germination rate (GR) and potassium (K), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and nickel (Ni) elements. While PGPR application increased soil pH, dry and fresh weight of root, R/S, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, and Ni contents, and it caused a decrease in PH, PFW, tillers, GR, P, Cu, and Zn values. Combined biochar applications and PGPR had a significant effect on the pH, RFW, R/S, P, Na, and Cu. In conclusion, the combination of biochar and PGPR applications has shown a positive effect in terms of soil properties, plant growth, and element contents of einkorn wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcription factors are regulatory proteins known to modulate gene expression. These are the critical component of signaling pathways and help in mitigating various developmental and stress responses. Among them, bZIP, BBR, and BZR transcription factor families are well known to play a crucial role in regulating growth, development, and defense responses. However, limited data is available on these transcription factors in Triticum aestivum. In this study, bZIP, BBR, and BZR sequences from Brachypodium distachyon, Oryza sativa, Oryza barthii, Oryza brachyantha, T. aestivum, Triticum urartu, Sorghum bicolor, Zea mays were retrieved, and dendrograms were constructed to analyze the evolutionary relatedness among them. The sequences clustered into one group indicated a degree of evolutionary correlation highlighting the common lineage of cereal grains. This analysis also exhibited that these genes were highly conserved among studied monocots emphasizing their common ancestry. Furthermore, these transcription factor genes were evaluated for envisaging conserved motifs, gene structure, and subcellular localization in T. aestivum. This comprehensive computational analysis has provided an insight into transcription factor evolution that can also be useful in developing approaches for future functional characterization of these genes in T. aestivum. Furthermore, the data generated can be beneficial in future for genetic manipulation of economically important plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. ssp. monococcum) is an ancient diploid wheat species with many useful traits and used as a wheat gene discovery model. In this research, a total of 41 diploid and tetraploid wheat accessions were tested using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. A total of 33 genotypes of T. monococcum along with four genotypes each of tetraploid wheat (T. dicoccon and T. durum) were used as plant material. The analysis utilized 10 polymorphic markers, including a total number of 41 alleles with an average frequency of 4.1 alleles per locus during exploration of the level of genetic variations. Various diversity analyses, which are the effective number of alleles (Ne), gene diversity (h), Polymorphic Information Content (PIC), and Shannon's information index (I), were performed for 10 'A' genome wheat SSR markers. The results showed a narrow variation in einkorn genotypes, supported by Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA), with 66% maximum variation in all genotypes. The structure analysis divided the whole germplasm into two populations. A dendrogram was constructed to determine the genetic similarities using the unpaired group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA), which separated tetraploid wheat from other genotypes/accessions. Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) co-supported the clustering of UPGMA and structure by differentiating the diploid and tetraploid wheat. These findings will help understand the genetic relationships among these wheat accessions and their use in breeding programs in the future works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until now, little attention has been paid to the geographic distribution and evaluation of genetic diversity of durum wheat from the Central Fertile Crescent (modern-day Turkey and Syria). Turkey and Syria are considered as primary centers of wheat diversity, and thousands of locally adapted wheat landraces are still present in the farmers’ small fields. We planned this study to evaluate the genetic diversity of durum wheat landraces from the Central Fertile Crescent by genotyping based on DArTseq and SNP analysis. A total of 39,568 DArTseq and 20,661 SNP markers were used to characterize the genetic characteristic of 91 durum wheat land races. Clustering based on Neighbor joining analysis, principal coordinate as well as Bayesian model implemented in structure, clearly showed that the grouping pattern is not associated with the geographical distribution of the durum wheat due to the mixing of the Turkish and Syrian landraces. Significant correlation between DArTseq and SNP markers was observed in the Mantel test. However, we detected a non-significant relationship between geographical coordinates and DArTseq (r = -0.085) and SNP (r = -0.039) loci. These results showed that unconscious farmer selection and lack of the commercial varieties might have resulted in the exchange of genetic material and this was apparent in the genetic structure of durum wheat in Turkey and Syria. The genomic characterization presented here is an essential step towards a future exploitation of the available durum wheat genetic resources in genomic and breeding programs. The results of this study have also depicted a clear insight about the genetic diversity of wheat accessions from the Central Fertile Crescent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]