Abstract
In wheat endosperm, the granule-bound starch synthase or the Waxy protein is the sole enzyme for amylose synthesis and thus determines the amylose content and ratio of amylose/amylopectin. The gene encoding this enzyme has been named as Waxy (Wx) gene. In this study, eight novel Wx alleles from four diploid species belonging to the three Triticeae genera, namely Eremopyrum, Psathyrostachys, and Henrardia have been isolated and characterized. The genetic diversity of these genes was evaluated at the molecular sequence level, and the nucleotides of these Wx genes were also compared with their homologs from wheat and its relatives. The Wx alleles of P. juncea (Fischer) Nevski, E. triticeum (Gaertn.) Nevski, E. bonaepartis (Sprengel) Nevsk, and H. persica (Boiss.) C. E. Hubbard showed obvious differences from the homologous alleles known from wheat and Aegilops as well as Taeniatherum in terms of nucleotide composition, intron length, isoelectric point, and molecular mass. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that the Wx alleles of these four species distantly related to wheat were more closely related to those of Hordeum and Secale than the other species. These Wx alleles are novel candidates with potential application in wheat breeding for modified starch properties.
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We thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.
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This work was supported from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2016YFD0100502, 2017YFD0100903), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31771783, U1403185), the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (Nos. 2018HH0113 and 2018HH0130), and the Key Research and Development Program of Sichuan Province (2018NZDZX0002).
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Z.H. Y coordinated the project, conceived and designed experiments. S.F. D and J.R. L conducted the experiments, and edits the manuscript. J.W. H, W.J. Y, Q.Y. L, Y.Y. Z, Z.P. S analyzed the data, J. L, and G. L planted the materials, G.Y. C and Y.M. W provide some advice on data analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Dai, S., Li, J., Huang, J. et al. Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of Wx genes of four diploid species of the Triticeae genera Eremopyrum, Psathyrostachys, and Henrardia. Genet Resour Crop Evol 68, 1389–1400 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-020-01069-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-020-01069-1