Fine mapping of the tiller inhibition gene TIN4 contributing to ideal plant architecture in common wheat

• Published in: Theoretical and applied genetics Vol. 135; no. 2; pp. 527 - 535
• Main Authors: Wang, Zhiqiang, Wu, Fangkun, Chen, Xudong, Zhou, Wanlin, Shi, Haoran, Lin, Yu, Hou, Shuai, Yu, Shifan, Zhou, Hong, Li, Caixia, Liu, Yaxi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-02-2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural research; Agriculture; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Chromosome Mapping; Cloning; Cultivars; Gene mapping; Genes; Genetic analysis; Genetic aspects; Genomics; Growth (Plants); Humans; Identification and classification; Life Sciences; Methods; Nucleotide sequence; Original Article; Phenotype; Physiological aspects; Plant Biochemistry; Plant Breeding/Biotechnology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant growth; Quantitative trait loci; Recombinants; Triticum; Wheat; China
• ISSN: 0040-5752; 1432-2242
• DOI: 10.1007/s00122-021-03981-1

Key message
A tiller inhibition gene,
TIN4
, was mapped to an approximately 311 kb genomic interval on chromosome arm 2DL of wheat.
The tiller is one of the key components of plant morphological architecture and a central agronomic trait affecting spike number in wheat. Low tiller number has been proposed as a major component of crop ideotypes for high yield potential. In this study, we characterized the development of tillering in near-isogenic lines (NIL7A and NIL7B), indicating that the TIN4 gene inhibited the growth of tillering buds and negatively regulated tiller number. Low-tillering was controlled by a single gene (TIN4) located on chromosome 2DL by genetic analysis and bulked segregant RNA-seq analysis. A total of 17 new polymorphic markers were developed in this study, and 61 recombinants were identified in the secondary F2 population containing 4,266 individuals. TIN4 was finally mapped on a 0.35 cM interval, co-segregated with molecular marker M380, within a 311 kb genomic interval of the wheat cultivar Chinese Spring reference genome sequence that contained twelve predicted genes. Yield experiments showed that the yield of low-tillering lines was higher than that of high-tillering lines at a higher density. Overall, this study provides a foundation for the construction of a low-tillering ideotype for improving wheat yield and further cloning TIN4 by map-based cloning approach.