Biofortification of wheat using different molecular breeding techniques

Ali, Muhammad Waqas ORCID: 0000-0003-2826-4545 (2024). Biofortification of wheat using different molecular breeding techniques. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

Preview

Ali2024PhD.pdf
Text - Accepted Version
Available under License All rights reserved.
Download (4MB) | Preview

Abstract

Wheat grains are a poor source of iron and zinc, and identifying genetic ways to improve these through breeding could improve human health. In this thesis, we aimed to characterise the ZIP (zinc-regulated, iron-regulated transporter-like protein) family in wheat and identify novel variation for Fe content using an EMS population. In our first project, we identified and functionally characterised the ZIP genes in wheat, identifying 15 TaZIP genes in total. Using publicly available RNA-seq data, we found that in both wheat and rice, TaZIP11, TaZIP13, and TaZIP14 showed the highest
expression in most tissues. We functionally characterised these three ZIPs. We found that TaZIP11 could transport Fe and Zn in a yeast complementation assay but did not observe consistent effects on micronutrients in any wheat mutant lines. Although TaZIP13 did not transport Fe and Zn in yeast complementation assay, our TILLING mutants showed altered Fe contents, while these were inconsistent between different
crosses. TaZIP14 showed no effect in yeast or in planta. Secondly, we screened a hundred EMS lines cv. Cadenza using Perls staining and
selected three high Fe lines to develop the mapping populations. For Fe phenotyping in mapping population, we developed a computational method to quantify the Fe levels.
Additionally, this method also localized the Fe contents in grain tissues. Bulk segregant analysis of F2 lines identified significant QTL for Fe content in one population, including a highly significant QTL on Chromosome 3B. In summary, we identified and characterised three ZIP genes in wheat, found that EMS mutagenesis can increase grain iron content and found a novel QTL for Fe content.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):