Septoria tritici blotch (STB) caused by the fungus Zymoseptoria tritici is a devastating foliar disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) that can lead to substantial yield losses. Quantitative genetic resistance has been proposed as a durable strategy for STB control. In this study, we dissected the genetic basis of STB infection in 371 European wheat varieties based on 35k and 90k single nucleotide polymorphism marker arrays. The phenotypic data analyses suggested that large genetic variance exists for STB infection with a broad‐sense heritability of 0.78. Genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) propose the highly quantitative nature of STB infection with potential associations on chromosomes 1A, 1B, 2D, 4A, 5A, 6A, 6D, 7A, and 7B. Increased marker density in GWAS by combining markers from both arrays helped to detect additional markers explaining increased genotypic variance. Linkage disequilibrium analyses revealed genes with a possible role in disease resistance. The potential of genomic prediction (GP) assessed via two models accounting for additive effects and additive plus epistatic interactions among the loci suggested the possibility of genomic selection for improved STB resistance. Genomic prediction results also indicated that the higher‐order epistatic interactions are not abundant and that both marker platforms are equally suitable for GP of STB infection. Our results provide further understanding of the quantitative genetic nature of STB infection, serve as a resource for marker‐assisted breeding, and highlight the potential of genomic selection for improved STB resistance.

中文翻译：

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全基因组关联映射和通过高密度标记阵列预测欧洲冬小麦成年期小麦的黑斑病斑点感染。

小麦壳针孢斑病（STB）由真菌引起的Zymoseptoria小麦是小麦的叶面破坏性疾病（小麦L.），这可能导致大量的产量损失。已经提出定量遗传抗性作为STB控制的持久策略。在这项研究中，我们解剖了基于35k和90k单核苷酸多态性标记阵列的欧洲371个小麦品种中STB感染的遗传基础。表型数据分析表明，STB感染存在较大的遗传变异，广义遗传力为0.78。全基因组关联研究（GWAS）提出了STB感染的高度定量特征，它与1A，1B，2D，4A，5A，6A，6D，7A和7B染色体具有潜在的关联。通过组合来自两个阵列的标记物，GWAS中标记物密度的增加有助于检测其他标记物，从而解释了基因型变异的增加。连锁不平衡分析揭示了与疾病抗性有关的基因。通过考虑加性效应和基因座之间加性加上位互作的两个模型评估的基因组预测（GP）潜力表明基因组选择可改善STB抗性。基因组预测结果还表明，较高水平的上位相互作用并不丰富，并且两个标记平台均同样适用于机顶盒感染的GP。我们的结果提供了对STB感染的定量遗传本质的进一步了解，可作为标记辅助育种的资源，并突出了基因组选择对提高STB抗性的潜力。基因组预测结果还表明，较高水平的上位相互作用并不丰富，并且两个标记平台均同样适用于机顶盒感染的GP。我们的结果提供了对STB感染的定量遗传本质的进一步了解，可作为标记辅助育种的资源，并突出了基因组选择对提高STB抗性的潜力。基因组预测结果还表明，较高水平的上位相互作用并不丰富，并且两个标记平台均同样适用于机顶盒感染的GP。我们的结果提供了对STB感染的定量遗传本质的进一步了解，可作为标记辅助育种的资源，并突出了基因组选择对提高STB抗性的潜力。