book of abstracts - ipk gatersleben · proved selection and the exploitation of heterosis as well...

Book of Abstracts

Leveraging the value of genomic information

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Editor: Andreas Graner/IPK

Assistent: Regina Devrient/IPK

Photograph: Lynne Main/IPK

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Welcome GPBC 2018

European agriculture is coined by the needs for increased

sustainability, supply of protein for animal feed, adaptation

to global change and increased yields to ensure food secu-

rity. Plant genetics offers a wealth of innovative approach-

es to address any of these issues. The adaptation of crop

plants to the needs of farmers and the end users has been

the driving force of crop plant improvement from the very

beginning of domestication. Today, environmental issues

and societal preferences represent additional challenges.

The future improvement of crop plants rests on three pillars:

i. the ability to valorize allelic diversity to introduce novel genetic variation,

ii. advances in breeding methodology that allow for im-proved selection and the exploitation of heterosis as well as

iii. advances in biotechnology for trait introgression and ac-celerated breeding cycles.

In all these areas, the availability of genomic information is

considered to be of key importance to drive the genetic

improvement of crop plants. Against this backdrop the

upcoming German Plant Breeding Conference will

highlight the impact of genomics information and novel

technologies on plant breeding by lining up outstanding

keynote speakers and a wide spectrum of lectures to

review recent progress regarding the analysis of crop plant

genomes with regard to the conservation of plant genetic

resources, the identification and functional characterization

of genes and the development of enabling technologies. In

addition, the conference will provide a platform for both

scientists and plant breeders to learn about and discuss

recent developments and to forecast future trajectories of

innovation.

President GPZ

Organizers

Scientific Committee

Andreas Graner, IPK Gatersleben

Martin Ganal, Trait Genetics

Christian Jung, Kiel University

Maria von Korff Schmising, University Düsseldorf

Jochen Kumlehn, IPK Gatersleben

Milena Ouzunova, KWS SAAT AG

Thorsten Schnurbusch, IPK Gatersleben

Nils Stein, IPK Gatersleben

Jochen Reif, IPK Gatersleben

Local Organizing Committee

Regina Devrient, IPK Gatersleben

Hanka Jentsch, GPZ

Katrin Menzel, IPK Gatersleben

Sabine Odparlik, IPK Gatersleben

Nicole Wahle, IPK Gatersleben

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Program

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Table of Contents

Welcome GPBC 2018 ......................................................3

Organizers ......................................................................3

Program .....................................................................4

The future of gene banksMcCouch, Susan ..................................................... 12

Implications of the access and benefit-sharing frame-work on research and breeding in GermanyBegemann, Frank .................................................... 13

Genebank Genomics – “collecting stamps” or service to research and application?Stein, Nils ................................................................ 14

Harnessing genetic diversity for improving resistance in cerealsOrdon, Frank ........................................................... 15

Exploring allelic diversity in wild and cultivated barley genomes: selection scans and domestication modelPankin, Artem; Altmüller, Janine; Becker, Christian; von Korff, Ma-ria ............................................................................ 16

To see or not two C? That is the QTL!Snowdon, Rod ......................................................... 17

Identification and functional characterisation of novel genes controlling inflorescence development in barleyvon Korff, Maria ....................................................... 18

Genomics assisted improvement of Fusarium head blight resistance in bread wheat, durum wheat and trit-icaleBuerstmayr, Hermann; Michel, Sebastian; Buerstmayr, Maria; Ollier, Marine; Prat, Noemie; Wagner, Christian; Moreno Amores, Jose; Lemmens, Marc; Steiner, Barbara .............................. 19

Evening lecture: Challenges and opportunities of crop improvement – an agronomist’s viewDobermann, Achim ................................................20

Harnessing genetic variation in the immune system of wild wheatsWulff, Brande ......................................................... 21

4Gs in crop breeding for delivering higher genetic gains in developing countriesVarshney, Rajeev K ..................................................22

Molecular mechanisms of anther opening in barleyAcosta, Ivan F.; Przybyl, Marine; Amanda, Dhika ................23

Identification and characterization of flowering time genes in oilseed rape through mutant and transcriptome analysisShah, Smit; Emrani, Nazgol; Guo, Yuan; Jedrusik, Nicole; Molina, Carlos; Schiessl, Sarah; Weinholdt, Claus; Zou, Jun; Lemnian, Ioana; Grosse, Ivo; Jung, Christian ............................................. 24

Improving crop productivity by building resilience to fu-ture climates through exploiting natural diversity in pho-tosynthetic CO

2 fixation

Sharwood, Robert .................................................25

A genetic playground for enhancing the yield potential of wheatSchnurbusch, Thorsten ..........................................26

Small RNA-based prediction of hybrid performance in maizeSeifert, Felix; Thiemann, Alexander; Schrag, Tobias A.; Rybka, Dominika; Melchinger, Albrecht E.; Frisch, Matthias; Scholten, Stefan 27

Footprints of selection derived from heterozygosity pat-terns in a barley NAM populationMaurer, Andreas; Pillen, Klaus .....................................28

Main drivers of genomic prediction accuracy in plant populationsSchön, Chris-Carolin ..............................................29

Libraries of doubled haploid lines from landraces: a new tool for seed banks, breeding and genetic researchMelchinger, Albrecht E. ...........................................30

Prospects and potential uses of genomic prediction of key performance traits in tetraploid potatoStich, Benjamin; Van Inghelandt, Delphine .................... 31

Allohexaploid Brassica: problems, processes and po-tentialMwathi, Margaret; Gaebelein, Roman; Mason, Annaliese Sarah ...............................................................................32

High carotenoid cereals: A plant biotechnology product portfolio for human and animal health and nutritionChristou, Paul ..........................................................33

Increasing genetic variation in rapeseed: a critical as-sessment of random mutagenesis and CRISPR/Cas triggered mutagenesisJung, Christian .....................................................34

Generation of new barley mutant alleles of LIPOXY-GENASE 1 using CRISPR RNA/Cas9-endonuclease technologyHensel, Götz; Pouramini, Pouneh; Hiekel, Stefan; Reuter, Philipp; Baier, Steffen; Kumlehn, Jochen .......................................35

Genomics enabled breeding 2.0: incremental or disrup-tiveSouza, Edward .....................................................36

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Plant microbiota assembly and functions in plant healthSchulze-Lefert, Paul ............................................. 37

Plant phenotyping reveals genetic and physiological fac-tors of plant performance and is a powerful tool for deep characterization of plant genetic resourcesAltmann, Thomas .................................................38

Can omic marker-assisted selection replace phenotyp-ing in drought stress experiments in potato breeding?Haas, Manuela; Sprenger, Heike; Rudack, Katharina; Zuther, Ellen; Seddig, Sylvia; Peters, Rolf; Walther, Dirk; Kopka, Joachim; Hincha, Dirk; Köhl, Karin Iris ..................................................39

Closing Lecture: On the road to Breeding 4.0: Filtering through the good, the bad, and the boring of crop quan-titative genomic variationBuckler, Edward ...................................................40

Target enrichment sequencing of wheat Restorer-of-fer-tility like genesZhou, Ruonan; Himmelbach, Axel; Geyer, Manuel; Lorenz, Hartl; Stein, Nils ..................................................................42

Allelic variation of BADH2 gene in Thai fragrant rice landrace germplasmPusadee, Tonapha; Chan-In, Phukjira; Jamjod, Sansanee ....43

Functional diversity analysis for drought tolerance of Moroccan lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) landraces using Short Sequence Repeat and Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism molecular markers reveals functional ad-aptation towards agro-environmental originsIdrissi, Omar; Houasli, Chafika; De Keyser, Ellen; Van Damme, Pat-rick; De Riek, Jan ......................................................44

Genome-wide association mapping of controlled seed deterioration in barley using a diverse genebank panelTarawneh, Rasha; Nagel, Manuela; Börner, Andreas ...........45

Genetic diversity of soybean accession from early matu-rity groupsSchwertfirm, Grit; Büttner, Bianca; Riedel, Christine; Gellan, Ste-fanie; Eder, Joachim; Schweizer, Günther ............................46

Investigation of wheat genetic resources for effective leaf rust and stripe rust resistancesBeukert, Ulrike; Serfling, Albrecht; Ordon, Frank ................ 47

High light provokes genotype-specific response of flavo-noid metabolism in barley leavesVidovic, Marija; Brauch, Dominic; Mock, Hans-Peter ...........48

Exploring a genetic treasure: What is hidden within IPK’s potato collection?Diekmann, Kerstin; Dehmer, Klaus J. .............................49

Comprehensive genotyping of wheat ex-situ genebank collection of IPKKale, Sandip Mallikarjun; Himmelbach, Axel; Schulthess, Albert; Mascher, Martin; Oppermann, Markus; Börner, Andreas; Reif, Jochen Christoph; Stein, Nils .....................................................50

Two new chemotypes of balm (Melissa officinalis)Kittler, Johannes; Krüger, Hans; Kästner, Ute; Lohwasser, Ulrike ; Ulrich, Detlef; Zeiger, Bärbel; Böttcher, Christoph; Krähmer, Andrea; Gudi, Gennadi; Heuberger, Heidi; Artemyeva, Anna M.; Zvereva, Olga; Becker, Daniel; Marthe, Frank ............................... 51

Graphing genetic diversity: an exploration of structural variationWrightsman, Travis; Kubica, Christian; Collenberg, Max; Bemm, Felix; Weigel, Detlef ......................................................52

GWAS Analysis of worldwide spring barley collection under drought stressBoussora, Faiza Rachid; Nagel, Manuela; Tarawneh, Rasha; Börner, Andreas ..........................................................53

Valorizing allelic diversity for early development and cold tolerance through genome-wide association mapping and genomic prediction in a library of DH lines from maize landracesHoelker, Armin C.; Mayer, Manfred; Presterl, Thomas; Bauer, Eva; Ouzunova, Milena; Brauner, Pedro C.; Melchinger, Albrecht E.; Schoen, Chris-Carolin ....................................................54

Genetic analysis of field resistance of potato to late blight in organic farmingForster, Georg; Sieber, Karen; Kellermann, Adolf ................55

Adult yellow rust resistances from genetic resources of spring wheat of Genebank IPKRöder, Marion S.; Muqaddasi, Quddoos H.; Börner, Andreas .56

Genetic and physical mapping of anther extrusion in Eu-ropean wheatMuqaddasi, Quddoos H.; Pillen, Klaus; Plieske, Jörg; Ganal, Martin W.; Röder, Marion S. ............................................ 57

Genome-wide identification of two discrete sub-families of SUN-domain containing proteins in diverse plant spe-cies: molecular evolution, structural variation and differ-ential expression in development and stressShah, Md. Nur Ahad; Arabia, Shatil; Islam, Tahmina; Ghosh, Ajit 58

QTL analysis by Genome-wide association mapping of mineral contents in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grainAlomari, Dalia Zakaria ..............................................59

Identification of quantitative resistances against Phoma lingam, the causal agent of blackleg in oilseed rape (Brassica napus)Vollrath, Paul; Snowdon, Rod; Obermeier, Christian ............60

High-resolution map fragment of the genomic vicinity of the the “vc-“locus, harbouring a major allele for very low vicine and convicine seed content in seeds of faba bean (Vicia faba L.).Tacke, Rebecca; Link, Wolfgang ................................... 61

Genome-wide association studies for multiple disease resistance in Brassica napusGabur, Iulian; Delourme, Régine; von Tiedemann, Andreas; Faure, Sébastien; Jestin, Christophe; Breuer, Frank; Volkmann, Susann; Dyrszka, Emmanuelle; Snowdon, Rod; Obermeier, Christian .....62

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Genomic prediction of flowering time and yield through SNP and metabolite analysis in the barley NAM popula-tion HEB-25Gemmer, Mathias; Richter, Chris; Junker, Björn; Pillen, Klaus 63

Recreating genomically stable rapeseedIhien, Elizabeth Omonefe; Snowdon, Rod; Mason, Annaliese S. ...............................................................................64

Towards positional cloning of the RphMBR1012

locus con-fering resistance against Puccinia hordei in barleyFazlikhani, Leila; Perovic, Dragan; Kopahnke, Doris; Ordon, Frank 65

A tiered approach of genome-wide association analysis reveals genetic footprints related to the breeding history of barley cultivars with naked caryopsesWabila, Celestine; Neumann, Kerstin; Kilian, Benjamin; Graner, Andreas ....................................................................66

Genetics of whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) resistance in toma-toDevi, Micha G.; Bennewitz, Stefan; Balcke, Gerd; Rakha, Mo-hamed; Hanson, Peter; Tissier, Alain(1). .............................. 67

Mapping of photosynthetic parameters to improve drought tolerance in wheat and barleyGrieco, Michele; Wabila, Celestine; Neumann, Kerstin; Junker, Astrid; Tschiersch, Henning; Altmann, Thomas; Graner, Andreas ...............................................................................68

Quality breeding and it´s hidden effect on seed germi-nation performance in winter oilseed rape (B. napus L.)Hatzig, Sarah; Snowdon, Rod .......................................69

Genetic analysis of Hordeum bulbosum introgression lines carrying virus resistance genes on barley chromo-some 2HLKretsch, Julia; Perovic, Dragan; Habekuß, Antje; Korzun, Viktor; Oldach, Klaus; Wendler, Neele; Ordon, Frank .......................70

Unraveling quantitative trait loci for storage root forma-tion in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris)Patiranage, Dilan S.R.; Melzer, Siegbert; Goßmann, Gina Cap-istano; Jung, Christian ................................................... 71

Hyperspectral Prediction of Agronomic Traits with the Novel Field Phenotyping Platform 'Agrover'Schmidt, Maria; Klück, Hans-Christian; Backhaus, Andreas; Brauch, Dominic; Mock, Hans-Peter; Seiffert, Udo; Pillen, Klaus .72

Genetics of microspore embryogenesis in intervarietal substitution lines of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)Khan, Muhammad Munem; Herdlitschke, Anja; Ecke, Wolfgang ...............................................................................73

Evaluation of fusarium head blight resistance by digital pictures analysis for triticale populations with Fhb1 intro-gressionOllier, Marine; Talle, Vincent; Brisset, Anne-Laure; Le Bihan, Zoe; Duerr, Simon; Goudemand, Ellen; Robert, Olivier; Hilbert, Jean-Louis; Buerstmayr, Hermann .................................................... 74

From precision disease phenotyping to identification of quantitative powdery mildew resistance genes.Pogoda, Maria; Liu, Fang; Reif, Jochen Christoph; Schweizer, Pat-rick ..........................................................................75

Identification of QTL involved in priming of barley detect-ed after leaf rust infectionWehner, Gwendolin; Pohl, Karolin; Schikora, Adam; Ordon, Frank ............................................................................... 76

MAGIC MAPPING – High-resolution marker-trait associ-ation for pathogen resistanceSannemann, Wiebke; Lisker, Antonia; Kazman, Ebrahim; Cöster, Hilmar; Kempf, Hubert; Ebmeyer, Erhard; Gerjets, Tanja; Pillen, Klaus ............................................................................... 77

The genetic architecture of biomass formation in cereals revealed by non-invasive phenotypingNeumann, Kerstin; Zhao, Yusheng; Dhanagond, Sidram; Kilian, Benjamin; Reif, Jochen C.; Graner, Andreas .........................78

Small, but effective: miRNAs play a role in the crosstalk between flowering time and drought stress response in Brassica napusSchiessl, Sarah; Quezada, Daniela; Orantes, Mauricio; Snowdon, Rod .........................................................................79

A small secreted protein from the Sr2/LrSV2/PM/Fhb1 locus of wheat affects resistance to Fusarium head blight and powdery mildewChen, Wanxin; Hedley, Pete; Schweizer, Patrick ...............80

A “MBR1012 x Scarlett” high-density iSelect 9K barley map facilitates genetic dissection of net blotch resis-tancePerovic, Dragan; König, Janine; Silvar, Cristina; Nussbaumer, Thomas; Vatter, Thomas; Kopahnke, Doris; Afanasenko, Olga; Ordon, Frank ........................................................................ 81

Novel large effect QTL delays flowering time in spring barleyPesaran Afsharyan, Nazanin; Léon, Jens; Ballvora, Agim ...82

Increasing barley’s arsenal against viruses by taking ad-vantage of a wild relativePidon, Hélène; Wendler, Neele; Habekuss, Antje; Oldach, Klaus; Ordon, Frank; Korzun, Viktor; Stein, Nils .............................83

Species-wide spectrum of Resistance genes in Arabi-dopsis thalianaVan de Weyer, Anna-Lena; Monteiro, Freddy; Furzer, Oliver; Bemm, Felix Mathias; Dangl, Jeff; Weigel, Detlef ..........................84

Breakout of first insights from exome sequencing the barley HEB-25 populationSchmutzer, Thomas; Maurer, Andreas; Milne, Linda; Dra-icchio, Fulvia; Bull, Hazel; Sharma, Rajiv; Flavell, Andrew J.; Pillen, Klaus ..............................................................85

Mapping of genes for drought tolerance during seed germination in barleyMoursi, Yasser Shaaban Sayed; Thabet, Samar Gamal Mo-hamed; Karam, Mohamed Anwar; Graner, Andreas; Alqudah, Ahmad Mohamed ..................................................................86

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High-resolution mapping of rym15 conferring resistance to Barley mild mosaic virus (BaMMV)Wang, Yaping; Habekuß, Antje; Perovic, Dragan; Ordon, Frank 87

Association Mapping for Resistance to the Net Form of Net Blotch in a diverse Barley SetNovakazi, Fluturë; Anisimova, Anna; Afanasenko, Olga; Kopanke, Doris; Ordon, Frank ......................................................88

DFG-Predict: Omics-based prediction of hybrid perfor-mance and systems genetic analyses in spring oilseed rapeKnoch, Dominic; Abbadi, Amine; Bräutigam, Andrea; Grandke, Fa-bian; Himmelbach, Axel; Meyer, Rhonda C.; Riewe, David; Samans, Birgit; Snowdon, Rod; Altmann, Thomas ..............................89

Genomics-based high-resolution mapping of a QTL conferring Fusarium Head Blight resistance on chromo-some 2A of Triticum monococcumBreidenbach, Caroline; Luthard, Lisa; Krämer, Ilona; Fedak, George; Ordon, Frank ...................................................90

Stage-specific QTL controlling vegetative growth in Ara-bidopsis thalianaMeyer, Rhonda C; Weigelt-Fischer, Kathleen; Altmann, Thomas .. ............................................................................... 91

Winter faba bean as target species in mixed-cropping with winter wheatSiebrecht-Schöll, Daniel; Martsch, Regina; Link, Wolfgang .92

Breeding progress in biomass amaranth (Amaranthus spp.)Baturaygil, Ali; Schmid, Karl .........................................93

Exploring allelic diversity underlying breeding progress in European wheatStahl, Andreas; Voss-Fels, Kai P.; Friedt, Wolfgang; Snowdon, Rod; Wittkop, Benjamin ..................................................94

Mapping QTL for grain yield and thousand grain weight in the multiparental wheat population WM-800Lisker, Antonia; Sannemann, Wiebke; Maurer, Andreas; Kazman, Ebrahim; Cöster, Hilmar; Kempf, Hubert; Ebmeyer, Erhard; Gerjets, Tanja; Pillen, Klaus ........................................................95

Blue lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.) – A new source for vegan food?Lohwasser, Ulrike; Dieterich, Regine; Ruge-Wehling, Brigitte; Jan-sen, Gisela; Börner, Andreas ...........................................96

Cell separation and degeneration genes in barley anther developmentPrzybyl, Marine; Neumann, Ulla; Acosta, Ivan Felipe ............ 97

Comparing the crosstalk between flowering time, stress tolerance and yield in the Halle Exotic Barley-Yield pop-ulation at five locations worldwideWiegmann, Mathias; Maurer, Andreas; Pham, Anh; March, Tim-othy J.; Al-Abdallat, Ayed; Thomas, William B. T.; Shahid, Mohamad; Eglinton, Jason; Baum, Michael; Flavell, Andrew J.; Tester, Mark; Pillen, Klaus ................................................................98

Genetic variation and inheritance of the cruciferin and napin content in a genetically diverse oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) set and development of a NIRS calibrationKlages, Nils; Richter, Jan-Christoph; Möllers, Christian .........99

Increasing wheat yield by focusing on light interception?Lichthardt, Carolin; Chen, Tsu-Wei; Stützel, Hartmut ........ 100

Development and evaluation of advanced lines derived from cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) and common wild rice (O. rufipogon Griff.) for outcross promoting traitsKhumto, Saran; Pusadee, Tonapha; Jamjod, Sansanee ...... 101

The More the Better: Robust SNP dose data for mark-er-assisted-breeding in tetraploid rosesSchulz, Dietmar; Linde, Marcus; Debener, Thomas ........... 102

Production primary octoploid triticale from incompatible crossesTikhenko, Natalia; Mascher, Martin; Rutten, Twan; Senula, An-gelika; Rubtsova, Myroslava; Tsvetkova, Natalia; Himmelbach, Axel; Börner, Andreas ......................................................... 103

New Brassica napus × B. nigra hybrids for blackleg re-sistance introgression in rapeseed breedingGäbelein, Roman; Mason, Annaliese ............................ 104

Analyzing the genetic diversity and architecture of sor-ghum pollen fertility under cold stressSchaffasz, Andre; Windpassinger, Steffen; Snowdon, Rod; Wit-tkop, Benjamin .......................................................... 105

CMS-based breeding of winter barley hybridsBernhard, Timm; Friedt, Wolfgang; Snowdon, Rod; Wittkop, Ben-jamin ...................................................................... 106

Single parent expression is a general mechanism driv-ing extensive complementation of non-syntenic genes in maize hybridsBaldauf, Jutta; Marcon, Caroline; Lithio, Andrew; Vedder, Lucia; Altrogge, Lena; Piepho, Hans-Peter; Schoof, Heiko; Nettleton, Dan; Hochholdinger, Frank .................................................. 107

Root-transcriptome responses to water deficit and salt stress during early barley developmentOsthoff, Alina; Hochholdinger, Frank ............................ 108

Genetic and Transcriptional Variations in NRAMP-2 and OPAQUE1 Genes are Linked to Salt-Tolerance in WheatOyiga, Benedict Chijioke; Ogbonnaya, Francis Chucks; Sharma, Ram Chandra; Baum, Michael; Léon, Jens; Ballvora, Agim ...... 109

Inheritance of seed oil content in the winter oilseed rape doubled haploid population Adriana x SGEDH13Yusuf, Abdusaheed Olabisi; Richter, Jan-Christophe; Möllers, Christian ...................................................................110

Accounting for epistatic interaction in phenotype predic-tion across environmentsVojgani, Elaheh; Martini, Johannes W.R.; Simianer, Henner ..111

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Enhanced Sustainability in Organic Potato Production via Pre-Breeding for Late Blight ResistanceSprengel, Michael; Hammann, Thilo .............................112

Identification and mapping of QTL for Zymoseptoria trit-ici resistance in wheatKarlstedt, Frances; Kopahnke, Doris; Perovic, Dragan; Pillen, Klaus; Ordon, Frank .....................................................113

The relevance of dominance to genomic selection in breeding clonally propagated plant speciesWerner, Christian R; Gaynor, R Chris; Gregor, Gorjanc; Lillo, Ales-sandra; Sargent, Daniel J; Hickey, John M ..........................114

Genetics of Ascochyta blight in the Göttingen winter beans population: A detailed phenotyping for GWASFaridi, Rabia; Koopmann, Birger; Link, Wolfgang ...............115

Adjustment for Missing Plants in Sugar Beet Field TrialsStache, Anne-Marie; Möhring, Jens; Müller, Bettina; Piepho, Hans-Peter ................................................................116

Participatory potato breeding for organic farming – practical experience and future visionsSieber, Karen; Forster, Georg Michael; Kellermann, Adolf ....117

Multiple to conquer: Simultaneous selection for grain yield and baking quality in genomics-assisted wheat breedingMichel, Sebastian; Löschenberger, Franziska; Ametz, Christian; Sparry, Ellen; Bürstmayr, Hermann ...................................118

Development of salt tolerance in cultivated rice using wild halophytic rice Porteresia coarctata (Roxb.) Tateo-ka through wide hybridizationMaisha, Masnun Homaira; Mitra, Shawon; Islam, Tahmina; Hoque, M. Imdadul; Sarker, Rakha Hari ......................................119

Natural variation for Crossing-Over frequencies in Bras-sica napusBlary, Aurelien; Snowdon, Rob ................................... 120

Development of fungal disease resistant peanut (Ara-chis hypogaea L.) through Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformationHoque, M. Imdadul; Banu, Tanjina Akhter; Rahman, Iffat Ara; Is-lam, Tahmina; Sarker, Rakha Hari .................................... 121

Analysis of a candidate gene involved in Verticillium longisporum resistance in winter oilseed rape using a RNA guided CRISPR-Cas9 systemChakrabarty, Subhadra; Chawla, Harmeet; Obermeier, Christian; Snowdon, Rod .......................................................... 122

Functional analysis and mutagenesis of GDSL genes for breeding oilseed rape (Brassica napus) with higher oil contentKarunarathna, Nirosha L.; Wang, Haoyi; Harloff, Hans-Joachim; Jiang, Lixi; Jung, Christian ............................................. 123

Detection of genome-wide structural re-arrangements in Brassica napus using Optical MappingChawla, Harmeet Singh; Snowdon, Rod; Obermeier, Christian . ............................................................................. 124

Knock-out study of phytic acid synthesis genes in Bras-sica napusHarloff, Hans-Joachim; Sashidhar, Niharika; Jung, Christian 125

Efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of commercial maize lines with simple transgene integra-tion patternRubtsova, Myroslava; Büchner, Heike; Hensel, Goetz; Rutten, Twan; Kumlehn, Jochen; Altmann, Thomas ......................... 126

Using CRISPR/Cas9 to induce targeted modifications of centromeric histone H3 (CENH3) in carrots (Daucus carota L.)Unkel, Katharina; Sprink, Thorben; Dunemann, Frank ....... 127

Targeted breeding of rapeseed with a site-specific mu-tagenesis systemMatar, Sarah; Emrani, Nazgol; Melzer, Siegbert ................ 128

Efficient in vitro regeneration and agrobacterium-medi-ated genetic transformation in tomatoAbdel-Salam, Eslam; Faisal, Mohammad; Alatar, Abdulrahman; Canto, Tomas ............................................................ 129

Establishment of durable Bymovirus-resistance in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) by genome engineeringHoffie, Robert Eric; Kumlehn, Jochen .......................... 130

Molecular characterization of grain storage proteins in Hordeum speciesMakhoul, Manar; Alsalamah, Buthainah; Lawand, Salam; Azzam, Hassan ................................................................... 131

Creating new crop species through interspecific hybri-disationKatche, Elvis Tembang; Mason, Annaliese .................... 132

Genetic dissection of two QTLs conferring drought tolerance in wild emmer (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoc-coides)Deblieck, Mathieu; Fatiuha, Andrii; Szilagyi, Gergely; Barak, Vered; Saranga, Yehoshua; Krugman, Tamar; Fahima, Tzion; Perovic, Dragan; Pillen, Klaus; Ordon, Frank ................................. 133

GENETICAL ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE CELL WALL FORMATION AND COMPOSITION BY MEANS OF THE BARLEY NESTED ASSOCIATION MAPPING POPULATION HEB 25Zahn, Sebastian; Seiffert, Udo; Pillen, Klaus ................... 134

Core Collection Formation Based on Environmental and Genotypic Data for Central European Soybean Breed-ingHaupt, Max; Schmid, Karl .......................................... 135

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Phenotyping – a toolbox for plant breeding

Genetic diversity of climbing beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) for mixed cropping with maize as new fodder for ru-minantsStarke, Mathias; Kellner, Matthias; Becker, Heiko ............. 137

Representing allelic diversity of maize landraces by li-braries of doubled-haploid linesMayer, Manfred; Presterl, Thomas; Milena, Ouzunova; Eva, Bauer; Chris-Carolin, Schoen .................................................. 138

Analyses of Wheat dwarf virus (WDV) resistance/toler-ance in barleyTrebing, Sarah; Habekuß, Antje; Ordon, Frank ................. 139

Breeding success in German winter wheat - Advances and new requirementsSchumann, Henrik; Léon, Jens .................................. 140

Breeding innovations in wheat for resilient cropping sys-tems: Nitrogen Use Efficiency and Drought ToleranceKoua, Patrice Ahossi ...............................................141

Winter hardiness as breeding aim for oilseed rape culti-vation under changing climatic conditionsRichter, Jan-Christoph; Möllers, Christian ..................... 142

Creating a new Crop – collection and genetic evaluation of Silphium perfoliatum L.Wever, Christian; Becker, Lukas; Höller, Martin; Pude, Ralf; West-hoff, Peter; Pestsova, Elena ........................................... 143

A Whole Genome Assembly of Rye (Secale cereale)Rabanus-Wallace, Mark Timothy ............................. 144

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The future of gene banksMcCouch, Susan

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

SeSSion 1: ConServation and CharaCterization of Plant GenetiC reSourCeS

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Implications of the access and benefit-sharing framework on research and breeding in GermanyBegemann, Frank

Federal Office for Agriculture and Food, Bonn, Germany

Two international agree-

ments on Access to Genetic Resources

and Benefit Sharing (ABS) apply to the

plant breeding sector: the Internation-

al Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for

Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty) and the

Nagoya Protocol.

The Plant Treaty has created a multilateral

system on ABS with facilitated access to

the most important crops via a standard-

ized Material Transfer Agreement. This

standardized agreement lays down rights

and obligations of the recipients of plant

material from the multilateral system and

benefit-sharing obligations.

The Nagoya Protocol is based on a bilat-

eral approach that requires case-by-case

negotiations between the country of origin

of genetic resources and the user. Con-

tracting Parties to the Nagoya Protocol are

obliged to carry out user checks in order

to provide that genetic resources utilized

within their jurisdiction have been ac-

cessed in accordance with the domestic

access legislation of the providing coun-

try. Across the European Union this com-

pliance obligation is implemented through

Regulation (EU) 511/2014.

This presentation explains the implications

of both international agreements to the

daily work of researchers and breeders.

It explains how those are implemented in

Germany and offers some guidance for us-

ers on how to comply with the respective

user obligations.

14

Genebank Genomics – “collecting stamps” or service to research and application?Stein, Nils

Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany

High quality reference ge-

nome sequences are in place now for

many crop species. More sequences are

expected to come either in new crop spe-

cies or multiple haplotypes of the same

species are sequenced to reveal the spe-

cies’ pan-genome. This provides new op-

portunities for studying crop genomic di-

versity and how genome diversity changed

during domestication, adaptation to new

environments or modern plant breeding. It

is possible to specifically identify genom-

ic regions lacking diversity and to design

breeding strategies for introducing novel

diversity for crop improvement. Here ge-

netic resources stored in ex situ seed-

banks are of critical importance and in the

focus of intense research and pre-breed-

ing activities. But how to select the ap-

propriate germplasm from seedbanks? To

make a first step towards providing better

informed approaches of germplasm selec-

tion from seedbanks, we characterized the

genomic complexity of all 20,000 barley

seed accessions at IPK Gatersleben, Ger-

many, hosting the largest international ex

situ seed bank of crop plants in the EU27.

This unprecedented level of resolution

about barley genome diversity is facilitating

diversity studies, allele mining and GWAS.

In combination with eco-geographic data,

passport information and any other data-

sets about phenotypic properties system-

atic genotype information of entire seed

collections will change ex situ seed banks

in the future from mere storage facilities

into general information hubs for research

and breeding.


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Harnessing genetic diversity for improving resistance in cerealsOrdon, Frank

Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Quedlinburg, Germany

Barley and wheat are of spe-

cial importance for feeding

the earth´s growing population. However,

both are hit by many pathogens causing

severe yield losses. Therefore, identifying

sources of resistance in genetic resources

in order to broaden the genetic basis of re-

sistance followed by marker development

and the marker based exploitation of these

resistances is a prerequisite to ensure an

ecological sound cereal production and to

avoid high yield losses. Based on screen-

ing programmes for resistance followed by

genetic analyses, molecular markers have

been developed for many major genes and

QTLs for resistance in wheat and barley.

While in the past marker development was

time consuming and laborious, today ge-

nomic tools (e.g. GBS, chip technology,

RNAseq etc.) and the availability of the se-

quence of wheat and barley facilitate effi-

cient marker development and marker sat-

uration of genes and QTL as well as gene

isolation via map based cloning. Examples

of using these genomic tools to harness

resistances to fungal (e.g. P. hordei, P. tri-

ticina, P. teres etc.) and viral pathogens

(BYDV, WDV, BaMMV, BaYMV) derived

for exotic germplasm, landraces and crop

wild relatives of wheat and barley are giv-

en.

16

Exploring allelic diversity in wild and cultivated barley genomes: selection scans and domestication modelPankin, Artem (1,2); Altmüller, Janine (3); Becker, Christian (3); von Korff, Maria (1,2,4)

1: Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany 2: Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf, Germany; 3: University of Cologne, Cologne Center for Genomics, Germany; 4: Heinrich Heine University, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sci-ences “From Complex Traits towards Synthetic Modules”, Duesseldorf, Germany

Recent molecular data suggested that do-

mesticated barley genomes consist of the

ancestral blocks descending from multiple

wild barley populations. However, the re-

lationship between the mosaic ancestry

patterns and the process of domestica-

tion itself remained unclear. To address

this knowledge gap, we identified candi-

date domestication genes using selection

scans based on targeted resequencing

of 433 wild and domesticated barley ac-

cessions. Using a genome-wide panel of

~500,000 SNPs, we conducted phyloge-

netic, population structure, and ancestry

analyses to investigate the origin of the

domesticated barley haplotypes sepa-

rately at the neutral and candidate domes-

tication loci. We found that multiple se-

lective sweeps occurred on every barley

chromosome during domestication in the

background of several ancestral wild pop-

ulations. The ancestry analyses suggest-

ed that the candidate domestication loci

originated in specific regions of the Fertile

Crescent. This study provided first molec-

ular evidence demonstrating involvement

of multiple ancestral lineages in barley do-

mestication initiated in the Levantine and

Zagros clusters of the origin of agriculture.

SeSSion 2: trait MaPPinG/Gene diSCovery

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To see or not two C? That is the QTL!Snowdon, Rod

Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany;

Evolutionary processes during

plant polyploidisation and specia-

tion have led to extensive presence-ab-

sence variation (PAV) in crop genomes, and

there is increasing evidence that PAV as-

sociates with important quantitative traits.

In the young crop species Brassica napus

(rapeseed, canola), the collision of two re-

lated diploid genomes (2A + 2C) in a sin-

gle nucleus during alloploidisation resulted

in extensive restructuring among homoeol-

ogous chromosomes due to unbalanced

inter-homoeologue exchanges. Gene loss

and allelic dosage effects resulting from

these dynamic genome disruptions have

enabled broad adaptation and human se-

lection and promoted the rapid success of

this species as a major global crop. Target-

ed identification and exploitation of useful

structural variation has considerable fur-

ther potential for breeding, but is challeng-

ing in a highly complex and structurally

volatile genome like that of B. napus. In

large-scale genome sequencing datasets

we revealed that widespread and ongoing

occurrence of homoeologous non-recip-

rocal translocations, segmental deletions

and homoeologous gene conversions are

a major driver of de novo genetic diversity

in B. napus, with pronounced effects on a

multitude of important traits under natural

and human selection. Interestingly, these

processes have favoured smaller A-subge-

nome chromosome segments over their

larger C-subgenome partners, leading to

an allelic bias at affected loci with more

frequent loss of C-subgenome variants.

We have accumulated considerable evi-

dence that so-called “missing data” from

high-throughput genotyping approaches,

generally attributed to technical failures

of SNP assays or to sequence coverage

variation, is frequently associated with

genuine deletions that potentially have an

important influence on trait expression in

B. napus. Although it is is rather difficult

to prove the existence and importance of

something which is invisible, novel meth-

ods to revisit high-throughput genotyping

data from large experimental and breed-

ing populations in the context of structural

variation have enabled us to reliably recog-

nise variants that we are unable 2C, illumi-

nating invisible 2C segments and missing

genes that in turn sometimes turn out 2B

the basis for us 2C invisible QTL. As has

been described previously, “when envy

breeds unkind division: there comes the

ruin, there begins confusion” [1].

[1] Shakespeare, W (1591) King Henry VI,

Part I. Act 4, Scene 1.

18

Identification and functional characterisation of novel genes controlling inflore-scence development in barleyvon Korff, Maria

Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany Institute for Plant Genetics, Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf, Germany Cluster of Excellence in Plant Sciences, Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf, Germany

Variation in the number of seeds per spike

has a large impact on grain yield in barley.

The number of seeds per spike is affect-

ed by early developmental processes that

determine the number of initiated spikelet

primordia, by further spikelet development

and floret abortion. We found that the Pho-

toperiod Response gene Ppd-H1 affects

floral development and floret survival un-

der long days and high ambient tempera-

tures. Global transcriptome analysis in de-

veloping shoot apices revealed candidate

genes that correlated with floral develop-

ment. Among these candidate transcripts

we detected known regulators of lateral

spikelet development and thus spike row-

type. In addition, we identified and char-

acterized the gene underlying the interme-

diate row-type mutant six-rowed spike 3

(vrs3) as a putative histone Lysine demeth-

ylase based on RNA-sequencing in allelic

vrs3 mutants. The transcriptome data sug-

gested that VRS3 acts as a transcriptional

activator of the row-type genes VRS1 (Hv.

Hox 1) and INTERMEDIUM-C (INT-C; Hv.

TEOSINTE BRANCHED1). Comparative

transcriptome analysis of the row-type mu-

tants vrs3, vrs4 (Hv.RAMOSA2), and int-c

confirmed that all three genes act as tran-

scriptional activators of VRS1 and quan-

titative variation in the expression levels

of VRS1 in these mutants correlated with

differences in the number of fertile lateral

spikelets. The identification of genes and

pathways affecting seed number in small

grain cereals is an important step towards

improving overall grain yield.


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Genomics assisted improvement of Fusarium head blight resistance in bread wheat, durum wheat and triticaleBuerstmayr, Hermann; Michel, Sebastian; Buerstmayr, Maria; Ollier, Marine; Prat, Noemie; Wagner, Christian; Moreno Amores, Jose; Lemmens, Marc; Steiner, Barbara

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria

Resistance to Fusarium is there-

fore a top priority for resistance breeding,

and receives high attention in research.

The search string: TS=(Fusarium AND

resistance AND wheat) finds in the time

frame 2000 -2017 more hits than any oth-

er wheat disease.

Apart from yield losses, the contamination

of the crop with mycotoxins is the major

issue. Fusarium is an opportunistic patho-

gen, which preferentially penetrates and

colonizes cereal florets during the flow-

ering period. Environmental conditions

which either favor or hamper the fungus

and the status of the plant during flowering

have therefore a huge impact on disease

establishment.

Resistance to FHB can be classified into

passive and active factors.

Typical passive resistance factors are plant

height and the extent of anther extrusion

during flowering. We discovered that 1)

anther extrusion is a clearly quantitative

trait, 2) higher degree of anther extrusion

is associated with reduced FHB suscepti-

bility and 3) plant height alleles, Rht-B1b

and even more pronounced Rht-D1b are

associated with increased FHB suscepti-

bility and reduced anther extrusion.

The famous FHB resistance allele Fhb1,

descending from Chinese germplasm,

residing on chromosome 3B, most likely

has a different function. Fhb1 is neither

associated with height nor anther extru-

sion. We always find Fhb1 associated

with increased resistance to Fusarium

spreading, and simultaneously to the toxin

deoxynivalenol (DON). We could recently

show that Fhb1 improves field resistance

to FHB also in durum wheat and in triticale.

Further tests on the functional characteri-

zation of Fhb1 in relation to DON detoxifi-

cation are currently underway.

Apart from few large effect QTL for FHB

resistance a great proportion of resistance

is due to numerous small effect genes.

Breeders can make use of these small ef-

fect alleles as well. Resistance selection

using a skillful combination of phenotyp-

ic testing in provocation nurseries and of

genome wide selection appea particularly

attractive.

20

Evening lecture:Challenges and opportunities of crop improvement – an agronomist’s viewDobermann, Achim

Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ, UK

Plant breeders have made a huge

difference in feeding a growing world pop-

ulation and they will need to do even more

in the future. Besides the general need to

sustain sufficient rates of genetic gain in

yield and other key traits, new challeng-

es need to be tackled, and new tools are

becoming available to do so. Although

there is still a lot do in terms of increas-

ing crop productivity in developing coun-

tries and adopting to a harsher climate,

good examples exist for how this can be

achieved, particularly also through work-

ing in an interdisciplinary and more target-

ed manner. Breeding needs to be done in

the context of good agronomic practices

in order to have the desired impact. New

global trends are likely to have a profound

impact on agriculture and thus als future

plant breeding and agronomy. Recent and

future generations of humans will be look-

ing for more diverse, more nutritious, lo-

cally sourced and sustainably grown food

and they are willing to spend more mon-

ey it. This will have profound implications

for food value chains. Now is the time to

engage in new research that will address

these new requirements, also in plant sci-

ence and breeding. We will need leaner,

faster science approaches that allow us to

improve many different crops. This requires

a substantial culture change at institutional

levels, at the level of individual scientists,

and in science funding and collaboration.

The desire to demonstrate ‘return for in-

vestment‘ by funders often results in incre-

mental, safe science rather than high-risk

steps. Scientists themselves need to work

in a more problem-solving and entrepre-

neurial manner. A more open innovation

and access environment will be required

as opposed to secretive behaviour and

intellectual property protection that stifle

wider progress.


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Harnessing genetic variation in the immune system of wild wheatsWulff, Brande

John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK

Modern agriculture depends

increasingly on large-scale,

genetically uniform cropping systems re-

quiring intensive use of chemicals to con-

trol pathogens. The wild ancestors of our

domesticated crops, however, contain ge-

netically diverse resistance (R) genes. De-

ploying these genes in crops represents

an underexploited and environmental-

ly benign disease control option. Cross

breeding R genes from wild relatives into

crops takes many years, is hampered by

the co-introduction of linked and unde-

sirable traits, and single R genes often

break down when deployed over a large

area. The pyramiding of multiple, cloned

R genes would prevent linkage drag and

provide a more durable control option by

delaying the evolution of resistance-break-

ing strains of the pathogen. In my presen-

tation, I will describe a series of enabling

technologies and how we are using these

to accelerate the discovery and cloning

of disease resistance genes from labora-

tory-generated and natural populations of

wheat and wild wheat, and our plans for

deploying cloned R genes in elite wheat

varieties.

22

4Gs in crop breeding for delivering higher genetic gains in developing countriesVarshney, Rajeev K

Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology, Research Program- Genetic Gains International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, India

Climate change has signifi-

cant adverse impacts on all components

of crop production – area, intensity and

yield – hence producing more food to feed

the growing population is a great challenge

before agriculturists and other stakehold-

ers. While crop breeding in past has de-

livered better varieties, enhancing preci-

sion, efficiency and effectiveness in crop

breeding is the need of the hour and future

for producing more food in less resources

especially in developing countries. In this

context, 4Gs i.e. germplasm, genomes,

genes and genomics and their integrated

use hold great potential for bringing much

need disruptive change in crop improve-

ment. Germplasm (1st G) collections stored

in genebanks should be well characterised

preferably in extreme conditions for future

breeding traits. Superior germplasm lines

may be useful for introgressing desired

traits as well as enhancing genetic base of

cultivated genepool. Genomes (2nd G) and

their sequencing and re-sequencing can

provide superior alleles and markers with

higher prediction value for target traits by

using genome-wide association study and

linkage mapping approaches. Genes (3rd

G) with causal effect can be identified by

using functional genomics and systems bi-

ology approaches. Genomics (4th G) tech-

nologies should become the integral part

of crop improvement programs by deploy-

ing genomics-assisted breeding approach-

es such as early generation screening,

marker-assisted backcrossing, genomic

selection and genome editing. While dis-

cussing the role of the above mentioned

4Gs, some examples of integrated used

of 4Gs in dryland crops important for de-

veloping countries will also be presented.

In summary, accelerated deployment of

4Gs is expected to enhance, precision,

efficiency and effectiveness of breeding

programs to deliver climate-resilient variet-

ies and higher genetic gains in developing

countries.


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Molecular mechanisms of anther opening in barleyAcosta, Ivan F.; Przybyl, Marine; Amanda, Dhika

Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany

The control of male fertility is a basic re-

quirement for cost-efficient hybrid seed

production or new variety development.

However, it remains an unfulfilled need of

wheat and barley breeding. To identify nov-

el targets for male fertility control in crop

cereals, a good understanding of stamen

development is necessary. We are using

barley as a cereal model system to investi-

gate the molecular mechanisms leading to

pollen release during anther dehiscence,

an attractive target for male fertility con-

trol. Within the historic barley collection

of male sterile genetic mutants, we have

identified msX and msZ, which display

normal plant and stamen morphology but

impaired anther dehiscence. Histological

analysis indicates that this is caused by a

failure of cell separation in the septum and

stomium regions. Additionally, msX shows

reduced secondary thickenings in the en-

dothecium and lower starch accumulation

in pollen. The candidate genes for MSX

and MSZ putatively encode an auxin bio-

synthesis enzyme and a pectin-degrad-

ing enzyme, respectively. The expression

of MSX and MSZ transcripts is activated

precisely at the stages where the mutant

phenotypes are first observed and only

in mature stamens, suggesting that they

function specifically in late stamen devel-

opment. Moreover, MSZ transcripts accu-

mulated at lower levels in the msX mutant.

We hypothesize that auxin synthesized via

the MSX enzyme is the signal that activates

the anther dehiscence program in barley.

One of the targets of this auxin signaling

would be the gene encoding the MSZ pro-

tein, which might degrade pectin at the

cell wall of septum and/or stomium cells to

facilitate their separation. We propose that

modulating the activity of the MSX or MSZ

enzymes may provide a means to control

the timing of anther opening and, there-

fore, male fertility in temperate cereals.

24

Identification and characterization of flowering time genes in oilseed rape through mu-tant and transcriptome analysisShah, Smit (1); Emrani, Nazgol (1); Guo, Yuan (1); Jedrusik, Nicole (1); Molina, Carlos (1); Schiessl, Sarah (3); Weinholdt, Claus (2); Zou, Jun (4); Lemnian, Ioana (2); Grosse, Ivo (2); Jung, Christian (1)

1: Plant Breeding Institute, Kiel University, Germany; 2: Institute of Computer Science, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany; 3: Department of Plant Breeding, IFZ Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition, Justus Liebig Universi-ty, Giessen, Germany; 4: National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China

Oilseed rape (Brassica napus L) grown

in different geographical regions of the

world has different requirements for day

length and vernalization which inhibits the

introgression of genes from non-adapted

breeding lines in new environments. A

broad variation exists from very early-flow-

ering spring-type to late-flowering winter

cultivars, which only flower after exposure

to an extended cold period. Thus, under-

standing the mechanisms governing flow-

ering time and vernalisation requirement

in B. napus is of great interest for cultiva-

tion under distinct environmental condi-

tions. The allopolyploid nature of B. napus

makes the transfer of information difficult.

In this study, we aim to identify flowering

time regulators from B. napus and char-

acterize their possible pleiotropic effects

on yield and yield components. We have

identified more than 110 EMS-mutated

alleles in paralogs of two major flowering

time regulators, FLOWERING LOCUS-T

(FT) and TERMINAL FLOWER-1 (TFL1) via

TILLING. To gain a deeper insight into ge-

netic factors controlling floral transition in

B. napus, we performed RNA-seq exper-

iments in the semi-winter doubled haploid

line Ningyou7 at different developmental

stages and under vernalized and non-ver-

nalized conditions. We analyzed expres-

sion profiles of 54,777 gene models and

developed a bioinformatics pipeline based

on iterative cycles of computational pre-

dictions of transcript levels based on RNA-

seq data and their experimental validations

based on RT-qPCR. By comparing ex-

pression profiles of plants before and after

vernalization stages we found 122 differ-

entially expressed genes flowering time

genes. We could also find 35 differentially

expressed flowering time genes between

BBCH 20 and BBCH 50 in both, vernal-

ized and non-vernalized plants suggesting

their role in floral transition irrespective

of vernalization. These differentially ex-

pressed genes were further investigated

through association and genetic mapping

to clarify their possible regulatory function

in the vernalization pathway and induction

of flowering in B. napus.

SeSSion 3: yield Potential

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Improving crop productivity by building resilience to future climates through exploiting natural diversity in photosynthetic CO

2 fixation

Sharwood, Robert

ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, Australian National University Canberra, ACT, 2601 Australia

The uncertainty of future

climate change and the continued reduc-

tions in arable land are placing significant

pressures on cropping systems to maintain

annual increases in productive yield. To

mitigate future climates and the increasing

threat towards global food security, new

solutions to manipulate photosynthesis are

required. One crucial enzyme in this pro-

cess is Rubisco (Ribulose-1,5-bisphos-

phate carboxylase /oxygenase), which ca-

talyses the rate-limiting step of CO2 fixation

of substrate RuBP (ribulose-1,5-bisphos-

phate carboxylase/oxygenase. The car-

boxylation of RuBP and the subsequent

cycling of the catalytic product 3-phos-

phoglycerate through the Calvin cycle pro-

vides the carbohydrate building blocks for

maintaining plant growth and crucial for

yield potential. Remarkably, Rubisco is a

bifunctional enzyme that often confuses

its substrate CO2 with O

2 and suffers from

numerous catalytic imperfections. These

include a slow catalytic turnover rate (2–4

turnovers per second in C3 plants), low

affinity for substrate CO2 (KmCO

2) and a

poor specificity for CO2 as opposed to O

2.

To circumvent these catalytic inefficien-

cies, C3 plants invest significant resources

into Rubisco synthesis to maintain a suit-

able CO2 assimilation rate, whereas C

4

plants are equipped with a CO2 concen-

trating mechanism to ensure Rubisco op-

erates at maximal capacity. My lab focuses

on improving the catalytic photosynthetic

CO2 fixation under future climates within

key food crops by interrogating the natu-

ral diversity photosynthesis and the under-

lying CO2 fixation biochemistry within in

available crop diversity panels, C4 plants,

algae and photosynthetic bacteria. My

talk will focus on the latest strategies for

improving photosynthetic CO2 assimilation

in crops such as wheat and rice to cope

better with future climates through tailoring

photosynthesis to variable climates.

26

A genetic playground for enhancing the yield potential of wheatSchnurbusch, Thorsten


My lab is interested in the molec-

ular-genetic elucidation of early

inflorescence development in small grain

cereals, specifically wheat and barley.

Functional knowledge of genes, which

regulate key developmental traits such as

inflorescence branching, spikelet initiation

or abortion, rachis internode length, or to-

tal number of rachis internodes is almost

completely lacking in these important ce-

real crops. To this end, we are utilizing

natural spike variants from wheat and in-

duced spike mutants from barley to clarify

the genetic make-up of genes underlying

developmental phenotypes for reduced

and increased grain number per spike.

Here I will report our latest results relating

to genes which alter spikelet number and

spikelet fertility in wheat. Collectively, I will

provide new insights into the genetic basis

of spike architecture in Triticeae and may

disclose new targets for boosting yield po-

tential.


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Small RNA-based prediction of hybrid performance in maizeSeifert, Felix (1,2); Thiemann, Alexander (2); Schrag, Tobias A. (3); Rybka, Dominika (2); Melchinger, Albrecht E. (3); Frisch, Matthias (4); Scholten, Stefan (2)

1: cropSeq bioinformatics, Hamburg, Germany; 2: University of Hamburg, Developmental Biology, Hamburg, Germany; 3: Uni-versity of Hohenheim, Institute for Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, Stuttgart, Gemany; 4: Justus Liebig University, Institue of Agronomy and Plant Breeding II, Giessen, Germany

Small RNA (sRNA) sequences are known

to have a broad impact on gene regula-

tion by various mechanisms. Their perfor-

mance for the prediction of hybrid traits has

not yet been analyzed. Our objective was

to analyze the relation of parental sRNA ex-

pression with the performance of their hy-

brids, to develop a sRNA-based prediction

approach, and to compare it to SNP and

mRNA transcript based prediction using a

factorial mating scheme of a maize hybrid

breeding program.

Correlation of genomic differences and

mRNA or sRNA expression differences

between parental lines with hybrid perfor-

mance of their hybrids revealed an inverse

relationship of sRNA with hybrid perfor-

mance in contrast to SNP and transcrip-

tome differences

We associated differences for SNPs,

mRNA and sRNA expression between pa-

rental inbred lines with the performance of

their hybrid combinations and developed

two prediction approaches using distance

measures based on associated markers.

Cross-validations revealed parental differ-

ences in sRNA expression to be strong

predictors for hybrid performance for grain

yield in maize and showed that both pos-

itively and negatively associated markers

should be integrated in the prediction ap-

proaches.

28

Footprints of selection derived from heterozygosity patterns in a barley NAM popula-tionMaurer, Andreas; Pillen, Klaus

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Halle, Germany;

Around 10,000 years ago domestication

of crops enabled mankind to settle and

agriculture to evolve. Early farmers and

breeders recurrently selected the best

performing plants for the next season. Do-

mestication and selection were accompa-

nied by a progressive depletion of genet-

ic diversity, known as bottleneck effect.

Therefore, there is need to replenish the

limited elite gene pools with favorable ex-

otic alleles from the wild progenitors of our

crops. Nowadays, however, genetic diver-

sity more than ever represents a key driv-

er of adaptation to climate challenges like

drought, heat and salinity. The wild barley

nested association mapping population

HEB-25 (Maurer et al. 2015) represents

one step towards exotic allele evaluation

and enrichment of the elite barley gene

pool. However, the identification of bene-

ficial exotic material can be laborious and

challenging.

We investigated an adaptive selection strat-

egy in HEB-25 by screening initially het-

erozygous loci after several years of field

propagation. HEB-25 was initially geno-

typed with an Infinium iSelect 9k SNP chip

in generation BC1S

3 and re-genotyped af-

ter five selfing generations with an Infini-

um iSelect 50k SNP chip in generation

BC1S

3:8. In every year, 20 representative

ears of a plot were harvested and seeds

were processed for next year sowing. By

comparing the transition of heterozygous

states between both generations we were

able to identify loci exposed to adaptive

selection in HEB-25. Almost half of all ini-

tially heterozygous loci were fixed towards

either the wild or the cultivated allele in

BC1S

3:8 generation. Most fixed loci turned

out to represent known domestication and

flowering time genes. Interestingly, also

unknown loci were found where the exotic

allele was fixed, hinting to potentially use-

ful exotic alleles.

References

Maurer A, Draba V, Jiang Y, et al. 2015.

Modelling the genetic architecture of flow-

ering time control in barley through nested

association mapping. BMC Genomics 16,

290.

SeSSion 4: advanCeS in BreedinG

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Main drivers of genomic prediction accuracy in plant populationsSchön, Chris-Carolin

TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany

Recent advances in genomic and

statistical research have made it

possible to predict the genetic value of

individuals from their DNA sequence. In

many crops these developments have

revolutionized breeding schemes. Geno-

me-based breeding has the potential to in-

crease selection gain by increasing selec-

tion intensity and decreasing cycle length.

To achieve maximum efficiency when im-

plementing genome-based methods key

factors driving prediction accuracy need

to be known.

This talk will present methodological de-

velopments in genome-based prediction.

Based on genomic, phenotypic and ge-

nealogical data from thousands of maize

genotypes I will present advancements

in genome-based prediction and discuss

challenges arising from the large genet-

ic diversity and genome complexity of

maize. Factors driving prediction accuracy

besides ancestral relatedness will be an-

alyzed for traits of different genetic archi-

tecture in multi-stage selection schemes.

It will be shown that genetic gain can be

increased when genome-based selection

is not soley based on mean genomic esti-

mated breeding values but by applying the

usefulness criterion in selection of cross-

es. Experimental results will be presented

for advanced cycle breeding material as

well as for genetic material derived from

maize landraces.

30

Libraries of doubled haploid lines from landraces: a new tool for seed banks, breeding and genetic researchMelchinger, Albrecht E.

University of Hohenheim, Institute for Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, Stuttgart, Ge-many;

Landraces of maize evolved

over centuries of multiplication and se-

lection by farmers. Molecular data show

that they represent a huge reservoir of un-

tapped genetic variation. Since landraces

in allogamous crops are open-pollinated

populations, they represent conglomer-

ates of highly diverse, heterozygous in-

dividuals with a high genetic load. This

entails problems for their characterization

and exploitation in line development by re-

current selfing for hybrid breeding.

Production of doubled-haploid libraries

(DHL) from landraces by in vivo haploid in-

duction could overcome these problems.

To test this hypothesis, we developed 389

doubled-haploid (DH) lines from six landra-

ces and evaluated their line per se perfor-

mance for 14 agronomic traits in four loca-

tions. We found a much larger genotypic

variance (σ 2/G) within DHL than among

DHL. Usefulness of the best 20% lines

was for individual DHL comparable to that

of elite lines.

The DH lines were also genotyped with a

50k SNP chip and analyzed for 288 metab-

olites. We found a rapid decay of linkage

disequilibrium (LD) in most DHL, indicating

their potential for high-resolution associa-

tion mapping (AM). A proof-of-concept for

this hypothesis was tested in a joint AM

study of 16 agronomic traits, where we

found several significant associations.

Altogether, our results demonstrate that

DHL are a promising tool for harnessing

the genetic diversity of landraces for maize

breeding and also for AM studies.

: advanCeS in BreedinG

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Prospects and potential uses of genomic prediction of key performance traits in tetra-ploid potatoStich, Benjamin (1,2); Van Inghelandt, Delphine (1)

1: Institute for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics of Plants, Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf, Germany; 2: CEPLAS Clus-ter of Excellence on Plant Sciences, From Complex Traits towards Synthetic Modules, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany

Genomic prediction might allow tetraploid

potato breeding to catch up with other

crop species with respect to the annual

gain from selection. The objectives of this

study were to (i) assess the prospects of

genomic prediction of key performance

traits in a diversity panel of tetraploid pota-

to modeling additive, dominance, and epi-

static effects, (ii) investigate the effects of

size and make up of training set, number

of test environments and molecular mark-

ers on prediction accuracy, and (iii) assess

the effect of including markers from can-

didate genes on the prediction accuracy.

With genomic best linear unbiased pre-

diction (GBLUP), BayesA, BayesC, and

Bayesian LASSO, four different prediction

methods were used for genomic predic-

tion of relative area under disease prog-

ress curve after a Phytophthora infestans

infection, plant maturity, maturity correct-

ed resistance, tuber starch content, tuber

starch yield (TSY), and tuber yield (TY) of

184 tetraploid potato clones or subsets

thereof genotyped with the SolCAP 8.3k

SNP array. The cross validated prediction

accuracies with GBLUP but also the three

Bayesian approaches ranged for the six

evaluated traits from about 0.5 to about

0.8. For traits with a high expected ge-

netic complexity such as TSY and TY, we

observed a 8% higher prediction accura-

cy using a model with additive and domi-

nance effects compared with a model with

additive effects only. Our results suggest

that for oligogenic traits in general and es-

pecially when diagnostic markers are avail-

able, the use of Bayesian methods for ge-

nomic prediction is highly recommended

and that the diagnostic markers should be

modeled as fixed effects. The evaluation

of the relative performance of genomic

prediction vs. phenotypic selection indi-

cated that the former is superior assuming

cycle lengths and selection intensities that

are possible to realize in commercial pota-

to breeding programs.

32

Allohexaploid Brassica: problems, processes and potentialMwathi, Margaret (1,2); Gaebelein, Roman (3); Mason, Annaliese Sarah (3)

1: University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; 2: The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia; 3: Justus Liebig Universi-ty, Giessen, Germany

The Brassica genus contains a large

number of related food crops, including

oilseeds, vegetables and condiments.

Three diploid species (B. rapa - Chinese

cabbage; B. nigra – black mustard; B. ol-

eracea - cauliflower, cabbage) have the

A, B and C genomes, while three allotet-

raploids (two-genome species: B. juncea

– Indian mustard; B. napus – rapeseed;

B. carinata – Ethiopian mustard) have ge-

nome complements AB, AC and BC. We

aim to produce a Brassica crop type with

three different genomes, i.e. ABC, which

will contain genetic diversity and important

agronomic traits from all six related Brassi-

ca crop species. The main challenge fac-

ing production and agronomic utilisation of

these hybrids is the problem of meiotic in-

stability, which results in subsequent loss

of chromosomes and poor fertility in early

generations.

We tested allohexaploid Brassica geno-

types derived from the crosses B. rapa ×

B. carinata and (B. napus × B. carinata)

× B. juncea for fertility and meiotic chro-

mosome behaviour. Meiotic behaviour,

plant fertility and agronomic traits were as-

sessed in several large populations derived

from these two hybrid types. Interspecific

hybridization between Brassica juncea ×

Brassica oleracea and between B. napus

× B. nigra followed by ovule rescue was

also carried out and confirmed triploid hy-

brids produced, followed by chromosome

doubling to create allohexaploid plants.

Parent and hybrid genotype was found to

influence fertility, agronomic and meiot-

ic traits, including the frequency of chro-

mosome loss and abnormal chromosome

pairing behaviour during meiosis. Statisti-

cal analysis found significant differences

between genotypes and the mean of plant

height, as well as between progeny sets

and pollen fertility, plant height and seed

set. Genotyping analysis using the 90K

Infinium Illumina Chip revealed A/B/C

chromosome interactions in subsequent

generations and identified loci putative-

ly affecting genomic stability in Brassica

allohexaploids, critical information for the

formation of a new stable crop species for

agricultural benefit.

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High carotenoid cereals: A plant biotechnology product portfolio for hu-man and animal health and nutritionChristou, Paul

Department of Plant Production and Forestry Science, ETSEA University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Lleida, Spain

We recreated the carotenoid

and ketocarotenoid pathways in elite maize

inbred lines. One of the resulting high ca-

rotenoid transgenic lines was registered in

Spain under the name of Carolight®. We

describe the process used to generate

Carolight® and also a breeding program

and experimental field trials to assess the

performance of elite transgenic hybrids

using locally adapted commercial inbred

lines. We present data on the interactions

of Carolight® with pests and diseases in

the field. The use of Carolight® in poultry

and swine production in a commercial

setting will be discussed. Experiments

demonstrating the beneficial effects of a

high carotenoid corn diet specifically deliv-

ered through Carolight® in human health,

using an experimental animal model will be

described. The performance of a high ke-

tocarotenoid line in fish production will be

used as a case study to illustrate transition

from the laboratory to a commercial set-

ting. We will also discuss the application

of synthetic biology, including genome ed-

iting to create novel plants for specialized

industrial applications with emphasis on

nutraceuticals.

34

Increasing genetic variation in rapeseed: a critical assessment of random mu-tagenesis and CRISPR/Cas triggered mutagenesisJung, Christian

Plant Breeding Institute, Kiel University, Germany;

For more than 70 years random

mutagenesis by irradiation or chemical muta-

gens has been the only method to increase

allelic variation. Many mutants had been intro-

duced to breeding programs and many variet-

ies have been released. Since more than 10

years targeted mutagenesis offers an alterna-

tive to random mutagenesis. With the inven-

tion of CRISPR-Cas technology in 2012 di-

rect gene modification has become feasible.

Since then, numerous examples have been

published where CRISPR-Cas technology

has been applied to modify crop plant genes.

We have established a random mutagenesis

platform for rapeseed which is based on an

EMS treated winter rapeseed variety. We

have isolated numerous mutants. Most of

them carry loss of function mutations in genes

encoding enzymes from metabolic pathways

(sinapine, phytic acid), lipid degradation path-

ways or pod architecture. However, a high

mutation load of mutant plants from polyploid

rapeseed creates a great problem for their use

in breeding. When grown in the field, primary

mutants showed poor field emergence, stunt-

ed growth, slow plant development and poor

winter hardiness which makes it impossible to

measure their agronomic performance. More-

over, a problem arises if gene families must

be targeted to alter a trait in polyploid species.

As simultaneous mutations in two genes are

extremely rare, mutants musd be crossed with

each other to produce double or even triple

mutants which display the desired phenotype.

This comes much easier with CRISPR-Cas

technology where gene paralogs sharing high

sequence similarity can be tagged by one

sgRNA. We have knocked out genes in rape-

seed which result in reduced pod shattering.

In one single plant, all 4 (homoeo)alleles of

the ALCATRAZ gene were knocked out. This

resulted in homozygous mutants for all genes

already in the T2 generation. In contrast to

EMS Alc-mutants which we have developed

at the same time the CRISPR-mutants are

lacking background mutations. Furthermore,

we have induced CRISPR-Cas mutations in

lipase genes and in genes controlling phytic

acid content i.

In the majority, random mutagenesis could

only target major genes controlling qualitative

traits. Targeting quantitative characters has

been a special challenge. There have been

reports where quantitative characters such

as yield had been improved by random mu-

tagenesis. However, those reports must be

taken with care because functional evidence

was in most cases lacking. In the future, even

quantitative characters will be modified by

CRISPR-Cas thanks to increasing knowledge

about gene regulatory pathways. Transcrip-

tion factors have been identified which control

plant architecture, e.g. branching in tomato or

tillering in rice. It has been proposed that fine

tuning of their transcriptional activity by target-

ed mutation will result in plants with elevated

yield potential.


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Generation of new barley mutant alleles of LIPOXYGENASE 1 using CRISPR RNA/Cas9-endonuclease technologyHensel, Götz (1); Pouramini, Pouneh (1); Hiekel, Stefan (1); Reuter, Philipp (2); Baier, Steffen (2); Kumlehn, Jochen (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) are dioxygenase

enzymes which catalyze the addition of

molecular oxygen to polyunsaturated fatty

acids. In plants, products of the LOX path-

way have diverse functions in processes

during development or pathogen attack. In

the brewing process barley lipoxygenases

affect the quality and flavour of beer. It was

previously shown that malt from lox1-mu-

tant barley is beneficial to beer flavour and

foam stability. In our approach, CRISPR

RNA/Cas9-mediated site-directed muta-

genesis has been used to generate new

LOX1 alleles without modifying the genet-

ic background of brewing barley. Trans-

genic barley plants of the model cultivar

‘Golden Promise’ ectopically expressing

LOX1-specific endonuclease were gen-

erated, and by simultaneously targeting

three different positions within the first

exon of LOX1, an array of different on-tar-

get mutations was obtained. Beside indels

in the target motifs, also deletions between

two guide-RNA target sites were detected.

Analysis of putative off-targets showed no

evidence for induced mutations. The typi-

cally multiple mutant alleles present in pri-

mary transgenics were efficiently resolved

and fixed via embryogenic pollen cultures.

Enzymatic assays confirmed different lev-

els of LOX-activity in the resultant doubled

haploids. In a subsequent experiment us-

ing current elite brewing barley, similar re-

sults were obtained.

36

Genomics enabled breeding 2.0: incremental or disruptiveSouza, Edward

Bayer Crop Science, Beaver Crossing, Nebraska, USA

Plant breeding has a 10,000

year history of improving the

human condition through art and science.

Over the past 150 year, scientific plant

breeding caused remarkable increases in

crop quality and quantity. Scientific plant

breeding, call it Version 1.0, uses the sys-

tematic discovery and application of ge-

netic principles coupled with experimental

testing methodology. We are transitioning

to genomics enabled breeding. Scien-

tific Breeding Version 2.0 uses genome

sequences, genomic selection, gene

cloning and editing, and speed breeding

pipelines. The versions differ in the infor-

mation intensification (e.g. use of species

reference sequences) used to discover,

initiate and select genetic variation. Each

new technology produces incremental ge-

netic improvements primarily through in-

formationally deeper learning to use novel

combinations of genetic variation.

Competitive breeding programs are opti-

mized. Adoption of new breeding methods

can be disruptive to the optimized efficien-

cies of scale. However, failure to adopt

competitive technology also is disruptive if

genetic progress slows in a program rela-

tive to the early adopters of 2.0 technolo-

gy. In the 2.0 data rich environments, data

understanding, even automation (deep

learning processes), is required to decide

targets within the genome and correct

combinations of genomic variation. These

processes must move at the speed of rap-

id breeding cycles or they disrupt existing

rates of genetic gain. A change manage-

ment mindset for the whole breeding orga-

nization is required for efficient technology

adoption.

To successfully adopt a new technology,

a program’s scientists and managers must

evaluate, with appropriate review and over-

sight, a technology’s efficacy to improve

plants to produce safe food adapted to so-

cietal requirements. Technology adoption

should be made using socially accepted

ethics and science that weighs benefits

and risks relative to alternative technolo-

gies. The standards must use clear, con-

sistent and predictable guidelines. Bayer

also supports using these same standards

for society’s evaluation of the outcomes of

Scientific Breeding 2.0.

SeSSion 6: future ChallenGeS

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Plant microbiota assembly and functions in plant healthSchulze-Lefert, Paul


We have previously shown that

healthy roots of Arabidopsis thali-

ana, grown in natural soils, are colonized

by a bacterial consortium with well-defined

taxonomic structure. Members of this root

microbiota belong mainly to the phyla Ac-

tinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes,

and dominant Proteobacteria [1]. A com-

parison of the bacterial root microbiota

of A. thaliana with A. thaliana relatives,

grown under controlled environmental

conditions or collected from natural hab-

itats, demonstrated a largely conserved

microbiota structure with quantitative,

rather than qualitative, species-specific

footprints [2]. We have isolated more than

8,000 A. thaliana root- and leaf-associ-

ated microbiota members as pure bac-

terial cultures, representing the majori-

ty of A. thaliana microbiota taxa that are

detectable by culture-independent com-

munity profiling methods, and generated

whole-genome sequence drafts for a core

collection of 400 isolates [3]. I will discuss

how we utilize these biological and genome

resources to explore the evolution and

functions of one taxonomic lineage of the

root microbiota. Rhizobia are a paraphylet-

ic group of soil-borne bacteria defined by

their ability to induce nodule organogen-

esis in legume roots and fix atmospheric

nitrogen for plant growth. In non-legumi-

nous plants, species within the Rhizobia-

les order define a core lineage of the plant

microbiota, suggesting alternative forms

of interactions with plant hosts. We com-

pared more than 1,300 whole-genome se-

quences of Rhizobiales isolates, including

microbiota members from non-legumes,

and show that the set of genes required for

nodulation and nitrogen fixation in legume

symbiosis was acquired multiple indepen-

dent times within each Rhizobiales sublin-

eage. The majority of root-associated rhi-

zobia colonize and promote root growth in

the crucifer Arabidopsis without nitrogen

fixation, indicating these are rhizobial traits

of an ancestral root association. Thus, the

capacity for nodulation and nitrogen fixa-

tion in legumes was likely acquired from a

predisposed root association in multiple

subsequent events, constituting an exam-

ple of convergent evolution.

[1] Bulgarelli, D. et al., (2012) Nature 488,

91-95.

[2] Schläppi, K. et al., (2014) PNAS

111(2), 585-59.

[3] Bai, Y., et al., (2015) Nature 528, 364-

369.

38

Plant phenotyping reveals genetic and physiological factors of plant per-formance and is a powerful tool for deep characterization of plant genetic resourcesMuraya, Moses (1,2); Junker, Astrid (1); Chu, Jianting (1); Zhao, Yusheng (1); Klukas, Christian (1); Reif, Jochen C. (1); Tschiersch Henning (1); Riewe, David (1); Meyer, Rhonda C.(1); Knoch, Dominic (1); Heuermann, Marc (1); Altmann, Thomas (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: Chuka University, Kenya;

Whole plant phenotyping integrated with

genotyping and molecular profiling is used

to uncover determining factors and mech-

anisms of plant (growth) performance. It

relies on IPK facilities for automated culti-

vation, transport, and imaging of plants in

climate controlled phytotron/glasshouse

cabins equipped with diverse camera and

illumination systems and a broad range of

environmental sensors [1]. Beyond GWAS-

based detection of QTL for final biomass,

water consumption, and water use effi-

ciency, repeated non-invasive size moni-

toring of 261 maize dent lines revealed the

complex genetics of growth dynamics [2]:

12 main effect QTL and 6 pairs of epistatic

interactions displayed markedly different

temporal patterns of activity. Some also af-

fected relative growth rates and 4 addition-

al growth dynamics QTL were detected

using nonparametric functional mapping

and multivariate mapping approaches.

Thus, integrated time-resolved analyses

are required addressing further physiolog-

ical (e.g. PS II efficiency) and architectural

features. These parameters were found to

vary strongly among c. 500 of the c. 1300

IPK Genbank maize accessions.

[1] Junker, A et al. (2015) Front. Plant Sci.

5:770; [2] Muraya, M et al. (2017) Plant J.

89:366-380


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Can omic marker-assisted selection replace phenotyping in drought stress experi-ments in potato breeding?Haas, Manuela (1); Sprenger, Heike (1); Rudack, Katharina (2); Zuther, Ellen (1); Seddig, Sylvia (2); Peters, Rolf (3); Walther, Dirk (1); Kopka, Joachim (1); Hincha, Dirk (1); Köhl, Karin Iris (1)

1: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam OT Golm, Germany; 2: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Sanitz, Germany; 3: Agricultural Research Station Dethlingen, Munster, Germany

Climate models predict an increased likeli-

hood of seasonal droughts. Potato produc-

es more food energy per water volume than

cereals, but requires breeding to increase

drought tolerance. European Solanum tu-

berosum ssp. tuberosum cultivars show

significant genetic variation for drought

tolerance. However, breeding of tolerant

cultivars is delayed by time-consuming

and expensive drought-stress trials. As

an alternative, tolerance can be predict-

ed from metabolite and transcript levels in

leaves with an accuracy > 90%, indepen-

dent of the agro-environment (Sprenger

et. al. (2017), doi 10.1111/pbi.12840).

To test whether this approach can re-

place drought stress trials, we performed

a selection experiment in a population of

200 tetraploid potato lines segregating

for drought tolerance. The population was

phenotyped for metabolite and transcript

levels of leaves and drought tolerance of

tuber starch yield. Based on the tolerance

assessed from the yield data in three inde-

pendent stress trials, we selected a toler-

ant phenotype sub-population SP1. Based

on the tolerance predicted by the model

from metabolite and transcript data, a tol-

erant and a sensitive MAS sub-population

(SP2 and SP3) were selected. All three

populations were phenotyped for yield and

drought tolerance in multi-environment pot

and field trials. Neither selection had neg-

ative side effects on the average develop-

ment or yield potential of the sub-popula-

tions. Lines with high drought tolerance

and high tuber yields under drought were

over-represented in both, the tolerant phe-

notype (SP1) and the tolerant MAS sub-

population (SP2). This result suggests that

omics-marker based predictions can be

used to select tolerant breeding lines.

40

Closing Lecture:On the road to Breeding 4.0: Filtering through the good, the bad, and the boring of crop quantitative genomic variationBuckler, Edward

US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Ithaca, New York, USA

As global population contin-

ues to grow and standards of living rise,

the world food supply needs to almost

double protein production. This needs to

be accomplished on less land and with a

more variable climate. One of the key tools

to address this challenge is the quantitative

genetics of our crops. The synergy of clas-

sical quantitative genetics with low-cost

genome-wide genotyping is already laying

the groundwork for how to respond with

genomic selection (Breeding 3.0). While

these models are extremely successful

and useful, they fail to use the incredible

wealth of quantitative genomic biology that

is being discovered at the nucleotide lev-

el. We provide a route to cost effectively

identify functional nucleotides by adding

evolution, chromatin structure analysis,

mRNA expression profiling, and environ-

mental adaptation to standard quantitative

genomics. This provides new opportuni-

ties to shift from rapid smart selection to

the designing of crops to the world’s future

needs.


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Target enrichment sequencing of wheat Restorer-of-fertility like genesZhou, Ruonan (1); Himmelbach, Axel (1); Geyer, Manuel (2); Lorenz, Hartl (2); Stein, Nils (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture, Freising, Germany

Bread wheat, Triticum aestivum (AABBDD,

2n = 42), is the third most-produced cere-

al crops in the world. Hybrid breeding is

the most efficient strategy to obtain the hy-

brid vigor, especially yield improvement of

wheat. Among the different hybrid breed-

ing technologies or facilities, cytoplasmic

male sterility - fertility restoration (CMS-Rf)

system is illustrious with the advantages

of low cost, stable and no impact to the

environment etc. However, currently, there

is no efficient fertility restoration (Rf) gene

available in wheat that would enable com-

mercial-scale hybrid wheat breeding due

to the weak and unstable performance

of male fertility restoration. Based on the

previous studies and published works of

literature, almost all of the cloned Rf genes

of plants are come from the same gene

family: PPR gene family. Restorer-of-fer-

tility like (RFL) gene class is one of the

subclades of PPR gene family. In almost

all cases, cloned Rf genes are cluster to-

gether with RFL genes. In the protein func-

tion level, RFL-PPR proteins are targeted

to mitochondria, where they prevent accu-

mulation of the CMS specific gene prod-

ucts. Our aim of this study is to mine the

fertility restorer gene resource of wheat.

Since we could confirm that RFL genes

is the Rf gene candidate pool, we applied

target enrichment sequencing technology

to discover and annotate RFL genes in dif-

ferent wheat Rf gene present and absent

genotypes. The identified RFL genes in all

genotypes were applied to develop SNP

markers for the restorer gene mapping

and later on the hybrid wheat breeding.

1


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Allelic variation of BADH2 gene in Thai fragrant rice landrace germplasmPusadee, Tonapha (1,2); Chan-In, Phukjira (1); Jamjod, Sansanee (1,3)

1: Division of Agronomy, Department of Plant and Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Thailand; 2: Plant Genetic Resource and Nutrition Laboratory, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand; 3: Lanna Rice Research Center, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the main staple

food for more than half of the world’s pop-

ulation. Fragrance in the grain is one of

the most highly valued grain quality traits

in rice. The discovery of new functional

alleles will provide additional genetic re-

sources to improve fragrant rice. It is es-

sential to identify the fragrance alleles from

diverse geographical locations and genet-

ic backgrounds. In this study, allelic varia-

tion in the betaine aldehyde dehydroge-

nase 2 (badh2) gene as the predominant

cause for fragrance development in rice

was investigated using previously reported

functional markers in fragrant rice land-

races from Northern, North-eastern and

Southern Thailand compare with local wild

rice, the well-known Thai Jasmin rice and

non-fragrant rice. In addition, the evalua-

tion of their genetic, morphological and

agronomic characteristics, and the grain

aroma (2-acetyl-1-pyrroline: 2AP) were

conducted. Using principal component

analysis, we found that grain length, width

and weight, panicle weight and leaf length

have the most substantial contribution.

The genetic diversity analysis based on

fragrance locus grouped the genotypes

broadly into 2 major clusters representing

fragrant and non-fragrant genotypes. In

addition, allelic variation at badh2 locus

was found among Thai fragrant rice land-

race germplasm. Therefore, it is important

to characterize the badh2 alleles from di-

verse aromatic rice varieties to generate a

panel of fragrance alleles for breeders to

choose the desired one.

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Functional diversity analysis for drought tolerance of Moroccan lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) landraces using Short Sequence Repeat and Amplified Fragment Length Poly-morphism molecular markers reveals functional adaptation towards agro-environmental originsIdrissi, Omar (2,3); Houasli, Chafika (2); De Keyser, Ellen (1); Van Damme, Patrick (3,4); De Riek, Jan (1)

1: Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Oostende, Belgium; 2: Institut National de Recherche Agronomique de Rabat (INRA), Morocco; 3: Ghent University, Belgium; 4: Czech University of Life Sciences, Czech Republic

Genetic diversity of 70 Mediterranean

lentil (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris Medi-

cus) landraces was assessed using simple

sequence repeats (SSR) and amplified

fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP).

Applying 19 SSRs yielded 213 alleles;

seven AFLP primer combinations gave

766 fragments of which 422 were poly-

morphic. These landraces were also as-

sessed for variation in root and shoot traits

and drought tolerance as estimated by

relative water content (RWC), water losing

rate (WLR) and wilting score (WS). Genetic

diversity and clear differentiation of Moroc-

can landraces from those from northern

Mediterranean regions (Italy, Turkey and

Greece) was found. High genetic variation

in root and shoot traits and traits related

to drought tolerance was also observed.

Landraces with higher dry root biomass,

chlorophyll content and root-shoot ratio

were drought tolerant as evidenced by

higher RWC, and lower WLR and wilting

severity.

Within the Moroccan genepool, few small

groups were differentiated. Interesting-

ly, one of the smallest groups contained

short cycle landraces with high early vege-

tative growth from the dry land location of

Abda, that may have been selected over

years for specific adaptation for drought

and heat stress. Another group contained

two landraces from highland areas that

may have been selected for specific adap-

tation. A third group contained one landra-

ce from the Zear region known for its seed

quality and previously proposed to obtain

the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)

quality mark. Both techniques gave evi-

dence of differentiation of the latter landra-

ce supporting the idea of PDO attribution.

Functional grouping according to agro-en-

vironment origins, cycle duration and early

vegetative vigor was observed.

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Genome-wide association mapping of controlled seed deterioration in barley using a diverse genebank panelTarawneh, Rasha; Nagel, Manuela; Börner, Andreas


More than 7.4 million accessions from

different plant species are stored in gen-

ebanks worldwide. Barley is among the

four most important crops stored globally

with about 470,000 holdings, whereby

the Federal German Ex situ Genebank for

Agricultural and Horticultural crops at IPK

Gatersleben houses more than 21,000

accessions. The ability of seeds to main-

tain their viability after long-term storage

is a crucial trait for germplasm conser-

vation. Seed longevity is influenced by

environmental and genetic factors. Seed

moisture content and temperature during

long-term storage affect strongly deterio-

ration rate. Our study aimed to elucidate

genetic backgrounds of seed ageing in

barley by applying controlled seed deterio-

ration (CD) to 184 spring barley genebank

accessions derived from 23 countries and

genotyped with 9K SNP array. CD test was

conducted at 60% RH and 45°C for 15

days. After treatment and over all acces-

sions, total germination decreased from

93.7 ± 10.1% to 66.5 ± 27.0%. Signifi-

cant different germination behaviour was

observed between accessions and used

for genome-wide association analysis in

order to reveal the genetic basis of seed

longevity.

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Genetic diversity of soybean accession from early maturity groupsSchwertfirm, Grit; Büttner, Bianca; Riedel, Christine; Gellan, Stefanie; Eder, Joachim; Schweizer, Günther

Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture, Germany

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is ex-

tensively used as high-protein feed ingre-

dient in livestock and poultry production.

The increasing demand in Germany for

GMO-free soybean against the backdrop

of the increasing cultivation of genetical-

ly modified seeds requires the expansion

of national breeding activities and the de-

velopment of domestic soybean varieties.

Securing the domestic protein supply pre-

supposes the availability of climatic adapt-

ed, high and constant yielding varieties

with high protein content.

Due to the climatic conditions in (south-

ern) Germany, suitable breeding materi-

al can only be developed from the early

to very early maturity gene pool (MG00

- MG0000). For our activities, 294 less

characterized soybean lines from gene

banks of the United States (GRIN-USDA),

Canada (GRIN-CA) and Germany (IPK-GB)

as well as elite varieties from France, Can-

ada, Austria and Switzerland are available.

So far, this material has been phenotypi-

cally evaluated in field trials in 2015 and

2016 and selected for the suitability of do-

mestic soybean cultivation. In parallel, the

genetic diversity of this material was ana-

lyzed genome wide by using high-through-

put genotyping (Soy6kSNPChip) and ex-

amined in selected candidate genes for

breeding-relevant traits.

Our results show that the current elite va-

rieties are genetically very close in com-

parison to the studied gene bank material.

Thus, the narrow genetic base of the elite

material can be extended by crossing with

genetically divergent gene bank material.

Our aim is the establishment and integra-

tion of molecular markers in early develop-

mental and breeding stages to select on

early flowering, timely ripening, cold toler-

ance and high protein content to secure

the profits for the farmer and the feed qual-

ity. First molecular markers are success-

fully established and identified very early

flowering accessions.

With our investigations we will lay the foun-

dation for a powerful soybean variety de-

velopment by optimizing the breeding and

selection methodology by using efficient

molecular genetic procedures.

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Investigation of wheat genetic resources for effective leaf rust and stripe rust resistan-cesBeukert, Ulrike; Serfling, Albrecht; Ordon, Frank


Bread wheat is one of the most import-

ant crops for human nutrition worldwide.

To ensure food security, wheat produc-

tion needs to be increased by 60% till

2050. Yearly leaf and stripe rust infections

caused by Puccinia triticina and Puccin-

ia striiformis, respectively result in signif-

icant yield losses up to 60%. Cultivation

of resistant varieties carrying effective re-

sistance genes is the most efficient and

environmental friendly solution in order to

avoid yield losses. Due to the emergence

of virulent and highly aggressive races,

vertical resistances are vulnerable to be

overcome. Hence identification of genet-

ic resources with new effective resistanc-

es is an important task. To achieve this,

the wheat ex-situ collection of the IPK

Gatersleben is analyzed for resistance by

applying an integrated concept including

cutting-edge genomics, phenomics, bio-

diversity informatics, and precision (pre)

breeding. Within this concept reliable

phenotyping is a prerequisite for mapping

of resistances against rusts. In order to

characterize genetic resources of wheat

phenotyping of 9,700 winter wheat ac-

cessions in field trials and in greenhouse

experiments with regard to leaf rust and

stripe rust resistance has been started.

To detect and quantify resistances against

rusts in detached leaf assays digital im-

aging and high throughput technologies

have been applied (e.g. robotic platform

Macrobot). This was a prerequisite for the

analysis of a large number of genetic re-

sources. Genotypes showing quantitative,

race unspecific resistances were detect-

ed and will be further characterized using

microscopical and molecular techniques.

First results based on 4600 accessions

revealed that 14.1% of the genotypes car-

ry qualitative resistance against leaf rust,

whereas 48.6% showed quantitative dif-

ferences in resistance. 4.7% turned out to

be resistant against both, P. triticina and P.

striiformis.

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High light provokes genotype-specific response of flavonoid metabolism in barley leavesVidovic, Marija; Brauch, Dominic; Mock, Hans-Peter


Phenolic compounds are involved in var-

ious plant-environment interactions. Dif-

ferent abiotic stressors stimulate their

accumulation in a tissue-specific manner,

which opens a debate on their physiolog-

ical functions (UV/light screening, antioxi-

dative or sink of reduced carbon). Barley

(Hordeum vulgare) is a typical annual

grass originated from sunny habitats and

an important crop for feed and malt indus-

try. Moreover, barley is an excellent model

for studying stress tolerance mechanisms,

due to the large genetic resources avail-

able. In this study, six different barley ac-

cessions: Hege, Ant 287, Morex, Barke,

Scarlett, and Steptoe were used to inves-

tigate the genotype-specific response of

leaf phenolic metabolism to high light (HL)

In all accessions, the most abundant

phenolics were apigenin, luteolin, and

chrysoeriol glycosides. Barke, Steptoe,

and Hege had a similar phenolic profile,

while in Scarlett three different 2”-O-gly-

cosides (isoorientin-2”-O-hexoside, iso-

vitexin-2”-O-glucoside and isoscopa-

rin-2”-O-hexoside), and two in Morex

(isovitexin-2”-O-galactoside and isovitex-

in-2”-O-pentoside) were detected. All bar-

ley accessions constitutively accumulated

saponarin, lutonarin, and four isoorientin

and isovitexin-based glycosides acylated

with sinapic and ferulic acids. Upon HL

exposure, Morex accession accumulated

the greatest amount of flavonoids (more

than 50%), while their increase in Steptoe

was the lowest (~20%). Although saponar-

in was the most abundant flavonoid in all

genotypes, under HL its relative abun-

dance slightly decreased. The most stimu-

lated compound in Steptoe, Hege, Barke,

and Morex in response to HL was lutonar-

in (up to 4 times), while in Scarlett, isoori-

entin-2”-O-glucoside was almost 5-fold

enhanced. Moreover, the ratio of luteolin

and apigenin-based flavones doubled af-

ter HL-exposure. Considering that flavo-

noids with ortho-dihydroxyl substitution on

the B-ring (i.e. luteolin) are more efficient

antioxidants than those with monohydroxy

substitution (apigenin), the role of accumu-

lated compounds in the defence against

the potential oxidative stress induced by

HL is proposed.

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Exploring a genetic treasure: What is hidden within IPK’s potato collection?Diekmann, Kerstin; Dehmer, Klaus J.

Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Sanitz OT Gross Luesewitz, Germany

IPK’s potato genetic resources collection

was started in 1949 and since then grew

constantly up to a size of currently more

than 6,000 accessions. Nowadays IPK

holds one of the largest potato collection

in Europe. The collection is divided into

three subcollections:

1.) 2,846 accessions of tuber-bearing So-

lanum wild species (WKS),

2.) 2,758 accessions of old cultivars and

breeding lines (KKS) and

3.) 559 accessions of predominantly land-

races with Andean origin (AKS). Despite its

long existence, the collection is still char-

acterized suboptimally – both genetically

and phenotypically.

In order to improve the accessibility to our

potato genetic resources we genetically

characterized the vegetatively maintained

subcollections (AKS, KKS) by employing

15 microsatellite and six cytoplasmic mark-

ers. Markers were chosen based on their

polymorphic information content and utili-

zation in other potato research institutes,

thus ensuring comparability between our

and other potato collections. For further

analyses, molecular results and passport

information on the accessions like country

of origin or year of listing were compiled in

a database.

The microsatellite markers revealed a

higher genetic diversity within the AKS

compared to the KKS, a duplication rate of

10.6% and 7.2% possibly mislabelled ac-

cessions. The cytoplasmic markers allow

insights into the history of potato breeding

by displaying a higher variation in cyto-

plasm types from the 1950s onward when

wild Solanum species were introduced as

donors of resistances.

Altogether, this study permits the compa-

rability of the IPK potato collection to other

potato genetic resources collections. The

utilization of genetic markers lays ground

for a generally more efficient genebank

management. By complementing the

background information on our acces-

sions with genetic data, the value of our

collections for breeders and researchers

was increased considerably.

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Comprehensive genotyping of wheat ex-situ genebank collection of IPKKale, Sandip Mallikarjun; Himmelbach, Axel; Schulthess, Albert; Mascher, Martin; Oppermann, Markus; Börner, Andreas; Reif, Jochen Christoph; Stein, Nils


Genetic resources stored in ex-situ collec-

tions are implied with great value for breed-

ing since they could represent a reservoir

of allelic diversity not yet exploited in mod-

ern breeding. This is specifically of interest

in the context of improving or maintaining

crop yields in changing environments and

climates. The Leibniz-Institute of Plant Ge-

netics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) is

hosting a large ex-situ collection of around

28K wheat accessions. Genebank 2.0

project aims to explore this untapped trea-

sure of diversity. Initially, a set of 9,700

winter wheat accessions collected from 70

different countries has been selected. Ma-

jority of accessions were from European

countries wherein 37% were from Western

Europe while 21% were from Eastern Eu-

rope. Further, 50% of selected accessions

were plant cultivars while 30% were land-

races and breeding lines, research mate-

rials etc. cover the rest 20%. Genotyping

data has been generated from 3,871 ac-

cessions using genotyping-by-sequencing

(GBS) approach. On average, 2.5 million

reads have been obtained for each ac-

cession which resulted in identification

of >90K SNPs. As expected, majority of

the SNPs were from telomeric region in-

dicating the efficiency of GBS to capture

un- or low methylated regions. Population

structure analysis identified four distinct

populations corresponding to their ori-

gin. Interestingly, accessions from Italy

and Germany form different populations.

Further, diversity studies clearly separat-

ed Asian accessions from European ac-

cessions. The genotypic information can

be utilized to support the identification of

genomic regions governing high yield and

disease resistance in wheat.

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Two new chemotypes of balm (Melissa officinalis)Kittler, Johannes (1); Krüger, Hans (2); Kästner, Ute (1); Lohwasser, Ulrike (3); Ulrich, Detlef (2); Zeiger, Bärbel (2); Böttcher, Christoph (2); Krähmer, Andrea (2); Gudi, Gennadi (2); Heuberger, Heidi (4); Artemyeva, Anna M. (5); Zvereva, Olga (5); Becker, Daniel (1); Marthe, Frank (1)

1: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Inst. for Breeding Research on Horticultural Crops (ZG), Germany; 2: Julius Kuehn Institute, Insti-tute for Ecological Chemistry, Plant Analysis and Stored Product Protection (ÖPV), Germany; 3: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 4: Bavarian State Institute for Agriculture (LfL), Germany; 5: N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry (VIR), Russia

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) is a

well-known aromatic and medicinal plant.

Due to proven sedative, spasmolytic and

antiviral effects, it is often used in watery

or alcoholic extracts for self-medication

or pharmaceutical and medical purposes.

The therapeutic effect is caused by essen-

tial oil and rosmarinic acid, a phenolic acid

derivate. For medicinal use appropriate

levels of essential oil with lemon fragrance

and rosmarinic acid are required. In this

study, accessions fulfilling these require-

ments were called lemon balm, others

simply balm.

Three sets of in total 120 balm and lem-

on balm accessions were evaluated for

the variability of essential oil content and

composition. In addition, ploidy was de-

termined for all accessions, received from

LfL, IPK and VIR. For analysis of essential

oil distillation, and gas chromatography

(GC) was conducted, as well as extraction

as method adapted for small amounts of

material.

All grown lemon balm accessions belong

to diploid M. officinalis ssp. officinalis

and have 2n = 2x = 32 chromosomes. De-

veloped autotetraploid material from lemon

balm also displayed the citral chemotype.

In contrast the tetraploid ssp. altissima

(Sibth. & Sm.) Arcangeli has 2n = 4x = 64

chromosomes and no lemon fragrance.

Kittler et al. (2015) also mentioned triploid

accessions (2n = 3x = 48), which are ge-

netically stable but sterile and also have no

lemon-like scent.

The evaluation revealed two new chemo-

types (ct.), which are a germacrene D ct.

and a β-caryophyllene oxide ct. (Kittler et

al. Online First, Kittler et al. submitted). In

addition, diverging amounts of of essential

oil content were observed providing genet-

ic material for future breeding progress.

Kittler J, et al. (2015) Mol Cytogeneti 8:61

Kittler, J., et al. Genet Resour Crop Ev,

DOI: 10.1007/s10722-017-0568-3) ‘On-

line First’: http://link.springer.com/arti-

cle/10.1007/s10722-017-0568-3

Kittler, J., et al. Genet Resour Crop Ev

(submitted)

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Graphing genetic diversity: an exploration of structural variationWrightsman, Travis; Kubica, Christian; Collenberg, Max; Bemm, Felix; Weigel, Detlef

Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany

The 1001 Genomes project used short

read data to catalogue the variation in over

1,000 Arabidopsis thaliana strains. These

short read data were limited to calling sin-

gle nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and

short structural variants (SVs). Recent im-

provements in long read sequencing tech-

nology have made it feasible to sequence

many A. thaliana ecotypes and begin to

explore larger, previously overlooked,

structural variations. Additionally, the nor-

mally high error rates can be controlled

by circular consensus sequencing (CCS),

where the same fragment is sequenced

multiple times by a single polymerase. In

this project, we are exploring methods

of using highly accurate CCS reads to

cost-efficiently genotype long structural

variations in A. thaliana. As a reference,

we use a genome graph built from a whole

genome alignment of six de novo assem-

bled A. thaliana accessions. The genome

graph contains nodes of sequences that

are connected by edges and traversed by

paths to reconstruct the input sequences.

Polymorphisms in the graph form “bub-

bles” that are anchored on the left and

right by shared sequence, allowing us to

directly detect structural variations. Reads

can be mapped to this graph to call novel

and genotype existing SNPs and SVs. By

leveraging the reference graph and CCS

read mappings, longer novel structural

variations in new accessions can be called

quickly and cheaply.

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GWAS Analysis of worldwide spring barley collection under drought stressBoussora, Faiza Rachid (1,2); Nagel, Manuela (1); Tarawneh, Rasha (1); Börner, Andreas (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte (FSB), Bizerte, Tunisia

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the

world’s earliest domesticated crop spe-

cies, its production ranks fourth among

the cereals following maize, rice and

wheat with a production of about 729 mil-

lion tons per year (FAO 2014). It is also

one of the most important cereal crops

grown in many areas where it is often sub-

jected to drought stress, a serious abiotic

stress limiting plant growth and productivi-

ty worldwide. The aim of the present study

is to explore genetic variations and germi-

nation behavior of 184 barley accessions

under drought conditions and to detect

quantitative trait loci for drought tolerance

by GWAS analysis. These accessions

from IPK Genbank were genotyped with

9k SNP chip and tested under drought

conditions at seedling stage. Three water

regimes were used in this study; first (con-

trol) was to add 5 ml water to each of the

4 replicates, second (T1) was to add 2 ml

water to each of the 4 replicates then after

3 days seedlings were re-watered by 2 ml,

third (T2) was to add 2 ml water to each

of the 4 replicates then after 5 days seed-

lings were re-watered by 2 ml. Germinated

seeds were counted daily for germination

speed. At the seventh day, seedlings were

evaluated for total germination percent-

age and normal seedlings, shoots and

roots length were also measured. Results

obtained showed significant differences

between genotypes under control condi-

tions. Big variation among the genotypes

in their responses to drought was also de-

tected (10% to 100%). Treatment of seeds

with little water (2ml) and re-watering after

3 or 5 days improved germination (prim-

ing). In fact, total germination percentage

was not dramatically affected by drought,

contrariwise, germination speed, shoots

and roots length were remarkably de-

creased. Genome-wide association map-

ping analysis revealed major marker-trait

associations under drought conditions at

seedling stage.

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Valorizing allelic diversity for early development and cold tolerance through geno-me-wide association mapping and genomic prediction in a library of DH lines from maize landracesHoelker, Armin C. (1); Mayer, Manfred (1); Presterl, Thomas (2); Bauer, Eva (1); Ouzunova, Milena (2); Brauner, Pedro C. (3); Melchinger, Albrecht E. (3); Schoen, Chris-Carolin (1)

1: TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany 2: Maize Breeding, KWS SAAT SE, Germany; 3: University of Hohenheim, Institute for Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, Stuttgart, Gemany;

Improving cold tolerance in maize could

reduce the risk of yield losses due to cold

periods in late spring and would allow

farmers to prolong the growing period of

maize through earlier sowing. European

maize landraces represent a great, but still

untapped, reservoir of genetic variation.

Strategies for the efficient utilization of this

resource are currently evolving. This study

was conducted to discover regions rele-

vant for the expression of cold tolerance

through genome-wide association studies

(GWAS) as well as to investigate the pros-

pects of whole-genome based prediction

of genotypic values in landrace material for

cold tolerance related traits. We produced

and characterized libraries of about 1000

doubled-haploid (DH) lines from three se-

lected landrace populations. In 2017, the

complete set of DH lines was phenotyped

for early vigor, early plant height, flower-

ing time, final plant height and other ag-

ronomic traits in six diverse environments

in Germany and Spain. Complementary to

the phenotyping efforts, all lines were gen-

otyped with the 600k Affymetrix® Axiom®

Maize array.

We identified genomic regions on chromo-

somes 1 and 10 respectively, which were

significantly associated with cold related

traits in the studied landrace populations.

Cross-validated genomic predictions yield-

ed intermediate to high predictive abilities

for cold tolerance traits within landrace

populations (0.48 to 0.60). Predictive

abilities were close to zero for predictions

across landrace populations. Our results

will now be used to identify novel candi-

date genes to assist breeding for cold tol-

erance in elite germplasm.

This study was funded by the German Min-

istry of Education and Research (BMBF;

Grant ID 031B0195).

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Genetic analysis of field resistance of potato to late blight in organic farmingForster, Georg; Sieber, Karen; Kellermann, Adolf

Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LfL) , Germany

Breeding programs can be optimized by

implementing the genetics of traits of in-

terest and the use of genetic markers.

Resistance against late blight caused by

Phytophthora infestans of potato is one of

the long-term aims which takes decades

of breeding to develop considerable plant

material. Of these 25 late blight resistant

clones from the Julius Kühn-Institute (JKI)

were investigated in a diversity panel with

123 other entries and compared to vari-

eties and breeding clones of diverse pur-

poses and maturities. Between 2012 and

2015 field experiments were conducted at

one conventional and three organic sites

across Germany. Natural occurring late

blight infections were estimated from the

first visible symptoms on leafs to the total

fading of the whole plant. The traits ‘late

blight infection as relative area under dis-

ease progress curve’ (rAUDPC), ‘maturity

in days’ and ‘maturity corrected late blight

infection’ (∆rAUDPC) were assessed.

In a genome wide association study

(GWAS) genetic data was obtained using

the GeneSeek GGP Potato Array includ-

ing 12k single nucleotide polymorphism

(SNP). Population structure and addition-

ally kinship matrices were taken as covari-

ates in the statistical analysis which was

performed with the software TASSEL.

Here the General Linear Model (GLM)

and Mixed Linear Model (MLM) were ap-

plied and both identified several signifi-

cant SNPs which were associated with the

three traits of interest. The detected SNPs

had additive, dominant or both modes of

effect. Positive alleles for late blight resis-

tance originated beside the JKI pre-breed-

ing clones from a small number of variet-

ies. Validation of the most promising SNPs

is now undertaken on progeny of clones

with relevant alleles which also had been

phenotyped. SNP markers were convert-

ed into Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

markers and are being validated in 69 off-

spring.

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Adult yellow rust resistances from genetic resources of spring wheat of Genebank IPKRöder, Marion S.; Muqaddasi, Quddoos H.; Börner, Andreas


Two DH-populations of genetic resources

of spring wheat of Genebank IPK (Popula-

tion 1: TRI 11082 (GDR-variety HATRI) x

TRI 5645 (from Iran, collected 1952-54),

107 DH-lines; population 2: TRI 10703

(from Greece) x TRI 5310 (variety EUREKE

from France), 159 DH-lines) were grown in

the field at IPK in 2016. A natural occur-

ring yellow rust infection was scored on

a scale of 1 to 7 at anthesis state. Yellow

rust resistance was segregating in both

populations. The genotyping of both pop-

ulations with the 15k ILLUMINA-chip of the

company TraitGenetics GmbH resulted in

3877 polymorphic SNPs for population 1

and 3906 polymorphic SNPs for popula-

tion 2. In each population one single sharp

peak for Yellow rust resistance could be

mapped in a QTL scan using interval map-

ping (SIM) by the software package Genes-

tat16. In population 1 the Yellow rust re-

sistance mapped to chromosome 2DS at

47 cM and came from parent TRI 11082.

The Yellow rust resistance of population

2 was derived from parent TRI 5310 and

mapped on chromosome 5AL at 128 cM.

We assume that in both cases main adult

resistance genes are causing the resis-

tance reaction. Possible candidates based

on map position are Yr16 for population 1

and Yr48 or Yr34 for population 2, but it

is also possible that novel genes were de-

tected. The significant physical interval for

the genomic region on chromosome 2DS

comprises 2.6 Mb containing 62 predict-

ed genes of which 23 genes are support-

ed by cDNA or ESTs. On chromosome

5AL the significant interval of 6.6 Mb com-

prises 104 predicted genes of which 49

genes are supported by cDNA or EST. Our

results support the use of genetic resourc-

es as source of novel alleles and genes for

resistances to biotic stress.

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Genetic and physical mapping of anther extrusion in European wheatMuqaddasi, Quddoos H. (1); Pillen, Klaus (2); Plieske, Jörg (3); Ganal, Martin W. (3); Röder, Marion S. (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: Institute of Agricultural and Nutri-tional Sciences, Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany; 3: TraitGenetics GmbH, 06466 Seeland OT Gater-sleben, Germany.

Breeding for hybrid wheat is a possible

strategy to close the yield gap by exploit-

ing the potentials of heterosis. Efficient

F1

wheat seed production depends on

high rates of cross-pollination of female

lines which can be ensured via high an-

ther extrusion (AE) by male lines. Here,

we report the AE capacity and elucidate

its genetics in 514 elite European winter

wheat varieties via genome-wide associ-

ation studies (GWAS). A wide and signifi-

cant variation among the varieties coupled

with high heritability (0.80) for AE was ob-

served. The whole panel was genotyped

with the 35k Affymetrix and 90k iSELECT

single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) ar-

rays and candidate markers viz., Ppd-D1,

Rht-B1 and Rht-D1. Our GWAS revealed

51 marker-trait associations (MTAs) on

chromosomes 1A, 1B, 2A, 4D and 5B,

with Rht-D1 (4D) being the most signifi-

cant marker. Division of whole panel into

sub-panels according to the Rht-D1 gen-

otype resulted in 212 and 294 varieties

harboring Rht-D1a and Rht-D1b allele,

respectively. Panel specific MTAs on

chromosomes 2D, 3B and 6A were iden-

tified when GWAS was performed on the

sub-panels. Our study shows that AE is a

highly complex trait. However, the pres-

ence of Rht-D1a compared to Rht-D1b

(mutant) allele has a large phenotypic in-

fluence on AE. Demarcating the quantita-

tive trait loci regions based on intra-chro-

mosomal linkage disequilibrium revealed

AE’s candidate genes/genomic regions.

Understanding the genetics of AE in elite

European wheat and utilizing the linked

markers in breeding programs can help to

enhance cross-pollination for efficient pro-

duction of hybrid seed.

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Genome-wide identification of two discrete sub-families of SUN-domain containing proteins in diverse plant species: molecular evolution, structural variation and differen-tial expression in development and stressShah, Md. Nur Ahad (1); Arabia, Shatil (2); Islam, Tahmina (2); Ghosh, Ajit (1,3)

1: Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh; 2: University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh; 3: Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany

Background: SUN (Sad1/UNC-84 homol-

ogy) domain-containing proteins are high-

ly conserved throughout evolution. They

are localized in the inner membrane of the

nuclear envelope and involved in nuclear

migration and nucleoskeleton formation.

Here, we have analyzed the presence of

SUN members in the plant through a ge-

nome-wide scrutiny of six species- three

dicotyledonous and three monocotyle-

donous namely Arabidopsis thaliana, Gly-

cine max, Medicago truncatula; and Ory-

za sativa, Zea mays, Sorghum bicolor;

respectively.

Results: A total 46 SUN proteins encod-

ed by 30 genes were identified. Based on

their exon number, length, transmembrane

topology, the position of conserved SUN

domain and phylogenetic relationship;

they could be divided into two groups,

C-terminal SUN and Mid-SUN proteins.

Expression profiling of these genes was

performed in different developmental

stages, tissues as well as various unfa-

vorable conditions using publicly available

RNAseq and microarray data. Expression

of OsSUN and GmSUN genes was fur-

ther validated in response to salinity, de-

hydration and exogenous ABA treatment.

All these analyses concluded that the ex-

pression of SUN1/2 transcripts is ubiq-

uitous; that of SUN3/4 is development/

tissue regulated, and transcript of SUN5

is inflorescence/flowering stage-specific

and highly stress responsive. Moreover,

upregulation of OsSUN5 and GmSUN5

transcripts were validated using RT-PCR.

Conclusions: Based on the expression

pattern study across six plant species,

stress-specific transcript alteration of SUN

was detected. This study provides an initial

framework for further characterization and

functional validation of this important gene

family in the plant.

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QTL analysis by Genome-wide association mapping of mineral contents in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grainAlomari, Dalia Zakaria


Wheat is among the most important plant-

ed crops in the world and its product is a

major food to most of the world’s popula-

tion. Wheat grains contain low amounts of

minerals and at the same time there are

billions of people throughout the world

suffering from malnutrition especially of

iron, zinc and calcium. Developing mineral

dense wheat varieties is considered a long

term remedy for mineral deficiencies in

human nutrition. The work aims to explore

genetic variation of mineral contents in

the wheat grain using a collection of 353

European winter wheat genotypes. More-

over, our target is to identify quantitative

trait loci (QTL) associated with these traits

by using Genome Wide Association Study

(GWAS) in order to identify the candidate

genes of Fe, Zn and Ca contentin addition

to some other mineral elements. To this

end, GWAS was performed using 15523

mapped SNP markers (90k ILLUMINA and

35k Affymetrix chips) with the application

of mixed linear models for two field ex-

periments (2015 and 2016) and BLUEs.

Preliminary results have confirmed that

there is genetic variation in minerals con-

tent between the genotypes which is con-

trolled by a number of associated loci with

positive and negative effects. The output

showed common associations between

2015, 2016 and BLUEs. Further validation

of these associations is required to reveal

the candidate gene(s) of targeted traits.

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Identification of quantitative resistances against Phoma lingam, the causal agent of blackleg in oilseed rape (Brassica napus)Vollrath, Paul; Snowdon, Rod; Obermeier, Christian


Leptosphaeria maculans (anamorph:

Phoma lingam) causes blackleg in oilseed

rape (Brassica napus) and is one of the

main diseases in Germany and in most of

the oilseed rape growing areas worldwide.

In comparison to crop rotation, fungicide

treatments and cultural practices breeding

of resistant varieties is the most effective

and the most environmentally sustainable

way to fight blackleg. As most R genes

mediated (monogenic) resistances already

broke down it is crucial to save the func-

tion of still highly efficient R genes. The

aim of this project is the identification of

quantitative, non-race-specific resistance

to combine both types of resistance in new

varieties. Therefore, an interconnected

multiparent mapping population developed

from seven commercial lines was created

by a consortium of German oilseed rape

breeding companies involved in this study.

Each of six lines carrying a broad-spec-

trum resistance background, but no quali-

tative resistance genes, were intercrossed

with a single highly susceptible line. Six

double haploid (DH) populations were cre-

ated consisting of 60 lines each. These

connected populations should be used

to identify genomic regions and candidate

genes involved in resistance. To increase

the chance of detecting stable Quantita-

tive Trait Loci (QTL) two-year field trials are

being conducted at eight locations (four in

each year) in two replications. SNP data

of both the 360 DH lines and the parental

lines were generated for conducting QTL

analyses. The combination of these SNP

data and genome-wide resequencing data

of the parents will lead to an increased ef-

ficiency in detecting resistance associated

regions. The intended aim of this study is

the acceleration of breeding progress for

blackleg resistance by developing molec-

ular markers for application in marker-as-

sisted selection.

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High-resolution map fragment of the genomic vicinity of the the “vc-“locus, harbouring a major allele for very low vicine and convicine seed content in seeds of faba bean (Vicia faba L.).Tacke, Rebecca; Link, Wolfgang

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is appreciat-

ed as a valuable domestic pulse crop. It

serves as vege-table protein source due

to its seed protein content of app. 30%.

However, a draw-back of faba bean utiliza-

tion is the presence of anti-nutritive seed

compounds, such as vicine and convi-

cine. If used in feeding, faba beans can

thus cause oxidative stress and reduce

the per-formances of livestock, in partic-

ular laying hens. The genetic reduction of

these compounds is therefore a current

objective in faba bean breeding. To pave

the way, we aim at develop-ing highly infor-

mative DNA-markers; they should be very

closely linked to a major vicine/convicine

locus and in maximum gamete phase dis-

equilibrium with its alleles. The first results

of these efforts will be presented; includ-

ing the highly resolved map order of about

10 tightly linked SNP-markers. We will

continue this work by adding further can-

didate SNP markers and further enlarging

the segregating family, employing the vi-

cine/convicine phenotype as morpholog-

ical marker or for QTL mapping; and we

will use all results for pre-breeding an au-

tumn-sown faba bean cultivar for Germany

with low vicine and convicine content. This

project is part of the BLE/BMEL-funded

‘Abo-Vici’ consortium.

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Genome-wide association studies for multiple disease resistance in Brassica napusGabur, Iulian (1); Delourme, Régine (2); von Tiedemann, Andreas (3); Faure, Sébastien (4); Jestin, Christophe (5); Breuer, Frank (6); Volkmann, Susann (6); Dyrszka, Emmanuelle (7); Snowdon, Rod (1); Obermeier, Christian (1)

1: Department of Plant Breeding, IFZ Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany; 2: IGEPP, INRA, Agrocompus Ouest, Université de Rennes 1, 35653 Le Rheu, France; 3: Department of Crop Scienc-es, Plant Pathology and Crop Protection Division, Georg August University Goettingen, Grisebachstrasse 6, 37077 Goettingen, Germany; 4: Biogemma, Domaine de Sandreau, Chemin de Panedautes, 31700 Mondonville, France; 5: Terres Inovia, Avenue Lucien Brétignières, Campus de Gringnon, 78850 Thiveral-Grignon, France; 6: KWS SAAT SE, Grimsehlstrasse 31, 31755 Ein-beck, Germany; 7: SYNGENTA France SAS, Route des Pasquiers 346, 84260 Sarrians, France

Within the French-German GeWiDis con-

sortium (“Exploiting genome wide diversi-

ty for disease resistance improvement in

oilseed rape”), structural organization and

allelic diversity associated with resistance

to three important fungal oilseed rape dis-

eases was performed. Disease resistance

screening to Blackleg (Leptosphaeria

maculans), Sclerotinia stem rot (Sclero-

tinia sclerotiorum) and Verticillium stem

striping (Verticillium longisporum) was

done using a B. napus Nested Associa-

tion Mapping (NAM) panel in greenhouse

and field experiments in different loca-

tions across Germany and France. Ge-

nome-wide association analysis (GWAS)

revealed significant marker trait associa-

tions including a number of new regions

for resistance to all three diseases. GWAS

identified overlapping quantitative trait loci

(QTL) for multiple disease resistance. To

optimize the strategy of breeding multi-re-

sistant varieties, we investigated the lo-

calisation of resistance factors and their

relationships with regard to polyploidy, du-

plications, homeologous translocations,

or other structural rearrangements. Anal-

yses of resistance factors involved in this

three diseases and their positive/negative

correlations in regions that are subjected

to structural variation is a promising tool

that allows a better understanding of the

genetic basis of quantitative resistance

in B. napus. New valuable alleles were

identified from diverse Brassica genetic

resources which might be useful for intro-

gression of new resistance variability into

oilseed rape.

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Genomic prediction of flowering time and yield through SNP and metabolite analysis in the barley NAM population HEB-25Gemmer, Mathias; Richter, Chris; Junker, Björn; Pillen, Klaus

Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany

Breeding for yield performance in elite bar-

ley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare) led to

a reduction of biodiversity through allele

erosion, the so-called genetic bottleneck

effect. Consequently, further improvement

of the performance of barley becomes in-

creasingly difficult. Moreover, classical se-

lection methods with several years of field

trials are expensive.

To accelerate the breeding progress, in-

direct selection methods are of great im-

portance. The most common method is

the SNP based estimation of breeding val-

ues through genomic prediction (Heffner

et al. 2009). A study in maize confirmed

that a reliable estimation of performance

with metabolite data is also possible (Rie-

delsheimer et al. 2012). The advantage

of genomic prediction is the early estima-

tion of traits already in seedling stage of

the plant which accelerates the selection

of the best plants during the breeding pro-

cess.

In the current project we simultaneously

characterize the multi parental wild barley

population HEB-25 with SNPs (50K SNP

chip) and through metabolic profiling of

approximately 200 metabolites. We will

merge SNP, metabolite and phenotype

data to alternatively predict phenotypes

based on metabolites or SNPs and com-

pare the prediction accuracy of both meth-

ods. In addition, we will associate pheno-

type and metabolite expression with SNP

by means of genome-wide association

studies (GWAS) and identify QTLs and

candidate genes which control the expres-

sion.

References:

Heffner EL, Sorells ME, Jannink JL (2009):

Genomic selection for crop improvement.

Crop Science 49: 1-2

Riedelsheimer C, Czedik-Eysenberg A,

Grieder C, Lisec J, Technow F, Sulpice R,

Altmann T, Stitt M, Willmitzer L, Melchinger

AE (2012): Genomic and metabolic pre-

diction of complex heterotic traits in hybrid

maize. Nature Genetics. 44: 217-220

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Recreating genomically stable rapeseedIhien, Elizabeth Omonefe; Snowdon, Rod; Mason, Annaliese S.

Department of Plant Breeding, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany;

Rapeseed (Brassica napus L, genome

AACC, 2n= 38) is a recent allopolyploid

crop formed by hybridization between Bras-

sica rapa (turnip, chinese cabbage) and

Brassica oleracea (European cabbage,

cauliflower and brocolli). As rapeseed has

limited genetic diversity, breeders often

recreate this hybridization event to produce

diverse synthetic B. napus types. Howev-

er, synthetic hybrids of B. napus are often

unstable, losing chromosomes and fertili-

ty in subsequent generations due to poor

control of chromosome pairing behaviour,

despite the fact that natural B. napus is

both stable and fertile. Hence, either in-

heritance of particular allelic variation for

meiotic stability present in the progenitor

species led to the production of an imme-

diately stable B. napus, or a denovo muta-

tion in the hybrid restored fertility, possibly

through non-homologous recombination

events between the A and C genomes. We

aim to test these hypotheses by charac-

terization of diverse sets of synthetic and

resynthesised B. napus lines provided by

Georg August University Göttingen and

Justus Liebig University Giessen. Meiotic

stability will be assessed by using fertility

as a proxy and also via traditional and mo-

lecular cytogenetics and SNP genotyping

as complementary approaches. cytoge-

netics using FISH will enable the assess-

ment of chromosome pairing behaviour

and detect loss of chromosomes across

subsequent generations. SNP genotyping

using the high-throughput Illumina Infinium

52K Brassica napus SNP array will allow

detailed assessment of allele inheritance,

non-homologous recombination events

and inference of meiotic behaviour. The

available resequencing data for resynthe-

sized B. napus lines will be used to assess

genome stability in diverse resynthesized

lines. Association mapping will also aid the

identification of underlying QTL and puta-

tive candidate genes with reference to the

B. napus reference genome. This study

will be highly relevant for providing meiot-

ic stability information that will be useful

for breeders aiming to use synthetics in

breeding programs.

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Towards positional cloning of the RphMBR1012

locus confering resistance against Pucci-nia hordei in barleyFazlikhani, Leila; Perovic, Dragan; Kopahnke, Doris; Ordon, Frank


Leaf rust of barley caused by Puccinia

hordei, is an economically important dis-

ease causing high yield losses in suscep-

tible barley cultivars. Due to the presence

of new pathotypes of P. hordei, there is

genuine need for introducing new sourc-

es of resistance. In this respect recent

advances in the development of barley

genomic resources i.e. 9K and 50K iS-

elect arrays, genome zipper, POPSEQ,

and GBS maps, as well as the barley ref-

erence sequence, enhance the possibili-

ty of isolating new resistance genes. The

RphMBR1012

gene previously mapped in the

distal region of barley chromosome 1H is

effective against the highly virulent barley

leaf rust (Puccinia. hordei) isolate I-80.

In order to positional clone the RphMBR1012

gene, a high resolution mapping popula-

tion was constructed based on the cross

“MBR1012 (resistant) x Scarlett (suscep-

tible)”. 537segmental homozygous re-

combinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from

4775F2-plants corresponding to a resolu-

tion of 0.019% recombination were iden-

tified by analyzing the population with two

co-dominant flanking markers spanning

8.0 cM. Marker saturation employing 55

SSRs and SNP markers derived from cur-

rently available barley genomic resources

allowed downsizing the target region to

0.13cM. Furthermore, mapped markers to

the RphMBR1012

locus were anchored to the

barley genome reference sequence. The

physical size of the interval was estimat-

ed to 0.44 Mb. 18 high-confidence and

11 low-confidence genes were detected

of which five are related to disease resis-

tance. Currently candidate genes are un-

der allele specific re-sequencing.

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A tiered approach of genome-wide association analysis reveals genetic footprints rela-ted to the breeding history of barley cultivars with naked caryopsesWabila, Celestine (1); Neumann, Kerstin (1); Kilian, Benjamin (1,2); Graner, Andreas (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: Global Crop Diversity Trust, Platz der Vereinten Nationen 7, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Seeds of barley domesticates are grouped

into two distinct types, which differ in

their morphology. Caryopses covered by

adaxial (palea) and abaxial (lemma) hulls

that tightly adhere to the pericarp at ma-

turity give rise to hulled seeds whereas

caryopses without adhering hulls give rise

to naked seeds. The naked caryopsis is an

important trait especially in regions where

barley is used for human consumption and

as animal feed.

From a previously developed barley land-

race collection comprising 222 2-rowed

and 303 six-rowed spring barley landrac-

es genotyped using the barley 9K iSelect

SNP chip, we performed a genome-wide

association study to scrutinize the genetic

basis of the naked phenotype. In addition

to a well-described locus on chromosome

7H, three novel loci were identified: the

locus on 2H was detected specifically

in the six-rowed accessions, the second

locus on 3H was detected specifically in

2-rowed accessions from Eurasia and the

third locus on 6H was detected specifical-

ly in six-rowed accessions from Ethiopia.

PCR analysis also confirmed the deletion

at the Nud locus (on 7H) in all of the naked

accessions except for a single naked ac-

cession originating from Ethiopia. The re-

sults reveal the power of association study

using a customized diverse panel and also

shine more light on the complex genetic

architecture of a morphological trait that

played an important role in the domestica-

tion history.

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Genetics of whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) resistance in tomatoDevi, Micha G. (1); Bennewitz, Stefan (1); Balcke, Gerd (1); Rakha, Mohamed (2); Hanson, Peter(2); Tissier, Alain(1).

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle (Saale), Germany; 2: World Vegetable Center (AVRDC), Shanhua, Taiwan

Whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) is one of the

most damaging and prominent pest that

has a wide host range. It is also an im-

portant vector for more than 150 viruses

such as The devastating Tomato Yellow

Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV). In this research,

we aim to characterize new sources of

resistance against whitefly from various

wild tomato species. Our cooperation col-

leagues have identified a Solanum habro-

chaites sp. glabratum accession (AVRDC

LA1719) which displayed good resistance

against whiteflies. A back-cross popula-

tion with a tomato cultivar (CLN3682C)

was produced and screened at AVRDC for

insect resistance based on no-choice as-

says and for trichome density. Additionally,

data were generated at the IPB from GC-

MS, LC-MS and trichome shape. Since

resistance appears to be correlated with

the presence of specific types of glandu-

lar trichomes, we will aim to identify which

metabolites produced by these trichomes

correlate with insect resistance.

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Mapping of photosynthetic parameters to improve drought tolerance in wheat and barleyGrieco, Michele; Wabila, Celestine; Neumann, Kerstin; Junker, Astrid; Tschiersch, Henning; Altmann, Thomas; Graner, Andreas


Drought is decreasing European cereal

yields and has been projected to worsen

in the next decades. This situation calls for

urgent breeding efforts in order to obtain

drought tolerant crop varieties.

To investigate the influence of drought

stress on photosynthetic parameters we

developed an innovative protocol for mon-

itoring photosynthetic activity by measur-

ing chlorophyll fluorescence. The use of

a pre-illumination tunnel allows us the fast

screening of light-adapted plants (one min-

ute per plant). A novelty of this protocol is

the application of sub-saturating high in-

tensity light, which can challenge and test

the capacity to regulate photosynthesis

and at the same time enhance differenc-

es between genotypes. Experiments were

performed under highly standardized con-

ditions

Using an automated phenotyping facility,

consisting of an automated imaging sys-

tem with controlled watering we were able

to quantify numerous phenotypic traits,

related to plant morphology and biomass

traits. We are currently performing a series

of greenhouse experiments employing

variegated wheat and barley collections. In

every experiment, a unique combination of

two integrated camera systems allows ac-

quiring functional and morphological traits

during several phases: initial plant growth,

water deficit and recovery from drought

stress.

Preliminary data revealed that genetic dif-

ferences in our wheat and barley collec-

tions can explain between 50 and 80% of

total variation of photosynthetic efficiency

under drought stress. Moreover, photo-

synthetic performance can be correlated

to other phenotypic traits, related to bio-

mass, water content and pigment content.

The unique combination of traits togeth-

er with detailed genetic information rep-

resents an entry point to uncover import-

ant features of drought tolerance in wheat

and barley.

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Quality breeding and it´s hidden effect on seed germination performance in winter oilseed rape (B. napus L.)Hatzig, Sarah; Snowdon, Rod


Rapeseed is one of the most important oil

crops worldwide. Intensive breeding ef-

forts have led to a broad usability, not least

because specific seed qualities – low glu-

cosinolate content and zero erucic acid

quality - could be established in the last

half century. While main effort is done on

the improvement of yield quantity and qual-

ity, secondary agronomic traits, amongst

them seed vigor were often less valued

in the modern quality germplasm collec-

tion. The great agronomic and economic

significance of optimized seed vigour and

germination was underlined by the fact

that it is closely linked to population den-

sity, uniformity, compensation propensity

and the required sowing quantity. Along

with all efforts to directly enhance crop

performance, it should therefore not be

neglected that unintentional co-selection

of unconsidered secondary traits could

also curtail the breeding progress. The

present study underpins this assertion, as

it demonstrates that breeding for specific

seed qualities in winter oilseed rape has al-

ready implicated a restriction in seed ger-

mination performance. In a test set com-

prising 215 diverse winter oilseed rape

varieties, low seed erucic acid content

and reduced seed glucosinolate content

were significantly related with inferior seed

germination. This finding emphasizes that

breeding should be conducted in a more

holistic way, integrating agronomic traits -

such as seed germination - with a funda-

mental importance for adequate growth

performance and yield building. Further-

more the current study delivers a practical

approach for the selection of improved

seed germination within modern quality

pools. Within a genome-wide association

approach, we identified partially overlap-

ping QTL modulating germination speed

as well as seed quality. In this context we

elaborated, that germination performance

in the modern quality gene pool could be

improved by marker assisted selection,

without disturbing seed quality perfor-

mance.

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Genetic analysis of Hordeum bulbosum introgression lines carrying virus resistance genes on barley chromosome 2HLKretsch, Julia (1); Perovic, Dragan (1); Habekuß, Antje (1); Korzun, Viktor (2); Oldach, Klaus (2); Wendler, Neele (2); Ordon, Frank (1)

1: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Quedlinburg, Germany; 2: KWS LOCHOW GMBH

Virus diseases have a high impact on yield

in barley. To prevent yield losses there

are two approaches: control of vectors

or breeding for resistance. The control of

the aphid-transmitted Barley yellow dwarf

virus (BYDV) is becoming difficult due to

governmental regulations concerning in-

secticides. The use of chemicals to con-

trol Barley mild mosaic virus/Barley mild

mosaic virus(BaMMV/BaYMV), trans-

ferred by the soil-borne protist Polymyxa

graminis, is not possible. As there is no

complete resistance in the primary gene

pool of H. vulgare against BYDV and the

resistance against BaMMV/BaYMV may

be overcome, search for new sources of

resistance, for example in H. bulbosum, is

of prime importance.

The H. bulbosum introgression line

203S11 carries resistance against BaM-

MV/BaYMV (Rym16) and Ryd203S11

Hb for

tolerance against BYDV located on chro-

mosome 2HL. After backcross with the

barley cultivar 'Emir' DH lines carrying an

introgression containing Rym16 or Ryd-

203S11Hb were identified and characterized

using a set of 31 molecular markers. Blast-

ing sequences of these markers allowed

anchoring the introgression to the physical

map of barley, and a size of 4.2Mb for the

Ryd203S11

Hb locus and 3Mb for the Rym16

locus were calculated. Until now, 1000

F2 plants carrying Ryd203S11

Hb were geno-

typed and out of these recombinant plants

were detected using co-dominant flanking

markers. The recombination rate in the F2

population is approximately 0.5%, caused

by the linkage drag between H. vulgare

and H. bulbosum.

Next, F2 plants carrying the Rym16 locus

will be screened for recombinations in the

target interval. Based on these plants, re-

spective intervals will be saturated by mark-

ers derived from the 50K Illumina chip, as

a basis for isolating respective genes via a

map-based cloning approach. A non-grid-

ded BAC library will be used to construct

physical maps of target loci and to identify

candidate genes located in the H. bulbo-

sum introgression fragment.

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Unraveling quantitative trait loci for storage root formation in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris)Patiranage, Dilan S.R.; Melzer, Siegbert; Goßmann, Gina Capistano; Jung, Christian


Beta species show large variation in root

morphology. Cultivated beets such as sug-

ar beets, fodder beet, and red table beets

produce thickened taproots that act as

storage roots, whereas leaf beets do not

produce storage roots. Beet yield and su-

crose content improvement is of high im-

portance in sugar beet breeding and are

negatively correlated. An understanding of

the genetic basis of storage root formation

might help also to understand why sugar

accumulation in the root is limited and neg-

atively correlated with storage root weight.

Therefore, we have developed a RIL popu-

lation derived from a cross between sugar

beet and leaf beet, which was phenotyped

in the F5 generation. For genotyping, the

parental genomes were re-sequenced,

and polymorphisms were identified to

developed KASP markers. Moreover, we

performed phenotyping in three environ-

ments to map QTLs for root fresh weight

and root circumference. Two experiments

were performed in an open environment

under natural light, and a third trial was

conducted in the greenhouse under a 15h

photoperiod. The broad sense heritability

for both traits was moderate and ranged

between 0.43-0.67, indicating a strong in-

fluence of the environment. Stable QTLs

were identified on different chromosomes,

which in part explained more than 25% of

the variation in the population, indicating

that major regulatory genes for storage

root formation might be located in those

QTLs. We will present the first QTL study

from a segregating population for storage

root formation. Finally, the developed RIL

population might also be of broader inter-

est for other research directions and will

be available.

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Hyperspectral Prediction of Agronomic Traits with the Novel Field Phenotyping Plat-form 'Agrover'Schmidt, Maria (1); Klück, Hans-Christian (2); Backhaus, Andreas (2); Brauch, Dominic (3); Mock, Hans-Peter (3); Seiffert, Udo (2); Pillen, Klaus (1)

1: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Lehrstuhl für Pflanzenzüchtung; 2: Fraunhofer-Institut für Fabrikbetrieb und -autom-atisierung IFF, Biosystems Engineering; 3: Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, Arbeitsgruppe Ange-wandte Biochemie

Plant breeding depends on high quali-

ty phenotyping of several thousands of

breeding lines to be effective. However,

phenotyping of high amounts of lines is

laborious, time-consuming and expensive.

To overcome these drawbacks, the novel

high throughput field phenotyping platform

‘Agrover’ was developed. The motorized

‘Agrover’ is equipped with a hyperspec-

tral camera including 288 spectral bands

within a spectral range from 930 to 2,500

nm wavelength and was used to charac-

terize the spring barley nested association

mapping (NAM) population HEB-25. In

2016, HEB-25, which consists of 1,420

lines, developed in generation BC1S3 by

crossing and backcrossing 25 wild barley

accessions with the German spring barley

cultivar ‘Barke’, was cultivated in the field

under two levels of nitrogen fertilization.

During cultivation, plants were phenotyped

manually for agronomic traits like flowering

time, plant height, and yield components

as well as for micro and macro nutrient

contents. Simultaneously, hyperspectral

signatures of the HEB lines were recorded

using the phenotyping platform ‘Agrover’

at flowering time, grain filling and maturi-

ty. Artificial neuronal network modeling

was applied to model hyperspectral ‘Agro-

ver’ recordings based on manually scored

data. Evaluation of these models revealed

that prediction of agronomic traits by hy-

perspectral imaging is possible on a high

level for several macro- and micronutrients

as well as for soluble phenylpropanoids.

However, prediction of the traits ears per

square meter, shooting, and maturity was

possible only on a moderate level. Cur-

rently, further improvement is in progress

to establish hyperspectral imaging as an

alternative field-based phenotyping ap-

proach.

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Genetics of microspore embryogenesis in intervarietal substitution lines of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)Khan, Muhammad Munem; Herdlitschke, Anja; Ecke, Wolfgang

Georg-August-Universität, Germany

Microspore embryogenesis is of great im-

portance in plant breeding to produce dou-

bled haploids (DHs) in just one generation.

In rapeseed, production of Microspore de-

rived embryos (MDEs) and DHs is limited

by the embryogenic potential of isolated

microspores. These isolated microspores

somehow behave differently even with stan-

dardized conditions which indicates the in-

volment of genes controlling embryogenic

potential. From an earlier experiment, four

Intervarietal Substitution Lines (ISLs) with

enhanced embryogenic potential to their

recurrent parent ‘Express 617‘, were iden-

tified with a number of donor segments,

which should carry the genes responsible

for the enhanced embryogenic potential.

The current experiment was carried out

to fine map and identify candidate genes

involved in the enhanced embryogenic po-

tential of the four ISLs. For the fine map-

ping, 270 new ISLs were developed from

the microspores of a backcross between

the four ISLs and the recurrent parent.

These newly developed ISLs contained

donor segment in different combinations.

To further narrow down the selection of

suitable lines, new ISLs were selected

based on the marker data from KASP anal-

ysis. Five microspore preparations were

prepared from the selected set of lines to

determine the embryogenic potential. Out

of selected lines, an ISL ERA49 showed

highest mean value (158.9) for number

of MDEs to its recurrent parent ‘Express

617‘ (13.56). Furthermore, the transcrip-

tome analysis of microspores was carried

out on four ISLs along with their parents

at different induction time points (0, 6, 12,

24, 48 hrs). The reads from transcriptome

analysis were de novo assembled, yield-

ing a library of 37,286 contigs which were

annotated. The transcriptome profiles of

parents and ISLs will be compared to iden-

tify likely candidate genes for embryogenic

potential. Finally, the results from the fine

mapping and the transcriptome analysis

will be compared to further narrow down

the list of possible candidate genes.

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Evaluation of fusarium head blight resistance by digital pictures analysis for triticale populations with Fhb1 introgressionOllier, Marine (1,2,3); Talle, Vincent (1); Brisset, Anne-Laure (1); Le Bihan, Zoe (1); Duerr, Simon (1); Goudemand, Ellen (2); Robert, Olivier (2); Hilbert, Jean-Louis (3); Buerstmayr, Hermann (1)

1: BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Department IFA-Tulln, Institute for Biotechnology in Plant Pro-duction, Konrad Lorenz Str. 20, 3430 Tulln, Austria; 2: Florimond-Desprez, 3 rue Florimond-Desprez, BP 41, 59242 Cappelle-en-Pévèle, France; 3: EA 7394, USC INRA 1411, Institut Charles Viollette (ICV), Agro-food and biotechnology research institute, Université de Lille, INRA, ISA, Univ. Artois, Univ. Littoral Côte d’Opale, Cité Scientifique, 59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France

Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) is considered

worldwide as a cereal disease of econom-

ic importance. Though genetic resistance

is now well understood for wheat, relatively

little research has been done for triticale.

Here we propose to characterize the FHB

genetic resistance of triticale, and to eval-

uate the efficiency of resistance QTL from

wheat in a triticale background. Three triti-

cale populations with wheat introgressions

were advanced to the F4 generation. RILs

were evaluated in field experiments for FHB

resistance in four seasons using spray in-

oculation and genotyped with SSR as well

as genotyping-by-sequencing markers

(DArTseq). Phenotyping was performed

on two phases. First, we visually evaluated

the percentage of infected spikelet in field

to determine the area under the disease

progress curve (AUDPC). Secondly, we

digitally evaluated the whitened kernel sur-

face (WKS) on grain, using a newly devel-

oped image analysis program. Four QTL

with major effect on the resistance were

identified on chromosomes 2B, 3B, 5R

and 7A. The QTL on 3B and on 5R were

detected at the Fhb1 and Ddw1 intervals,

respectively. So far, it is the first time that

an efficient introgression of Fhb1 is doc-

umented in triticale. It is a significant step

forward for enhancing FHB resistance in

this crop. The four QTL were detectable

with both variables, AUDPC and WKS, and

are well characterized on our maps with

SNP markers. They could be easily used

through a marker assisted selection pro-

gram. The new notation criterion WKS,

based on picture analysis, is a promising

tool for breeders. It presents good correla-

tion with mycotoxin content and is a very

economical way to enable the large scale

scoring and ranking needed to select re-

sistant cereal varieties for the future.

We acknowledge financial support from

the French Ministry of Higher Education

and Research and the Raiffeisen Science

and innovation Award.

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From precision disease phenotyping to identification of quantitative powdery mildew resistance genes.Pogoda, Maria; Liu, Fang; Reif, Jochen Christoph; Schweizer, Patrick


Cereals all over the world are attacked

by different pathogens. One of the most

common leaf diseases of cultivated bar-

ley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare) is

powdery mildew caused by the obligate

biotrophic fungus Blumeria graminis f. sp.

hordei (Bgh). Infection with the fungus can

lead to yield losses of up to 40 %. The use

of race-specific, major resistance genes

can provide protection but is often broken

rapidly due to pathogen co-evolution. In

contrast, quantitative disease resistance

is more durable but provides not complete

protection and is controlled by several

genes with smaller phenotypic effects.

The identification of new race-nonspecific

resistance genes or new alleles of known

genes is an important starting point for

several applications in agriculture and we

address this aim by the precision pheno-

typing of the barley WHEALBI (“Wheat and

Barley Legacy for Breeding Improvement”)

collection in response to two poly-viru-

lent Bgh isolates. This barley collection

provides high diversity and our phenotyp-

ic data indicate that especially landraces

and old cultivars are a valuable source of

quantitative resistance genes. We per-

formed a genome wide association study

(GWAS) on the basis of Exome-Capture

sequencing data that were provided by

WHEALBI cooperation partners and of our

phenotypic data. These data include the

results of each isolate separately and an

in silico mixed inoculation of the isolates,

which is based on the combination of both

isolates and selection of the maximal in-

fection value. As a result, we were able

to identify 27 potential race-nonspecific

candidate genes that were distributed on

four barley chromosomes. An analysis of

the corresponding haplotypes indicate the

existence of major susceptibility and mi-

nor resistance alleles. Functional transient

assays of potentially superior alleles are in

progress.

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Identification of QTL involved in priming of barley detected after leaf rust infectionWehner, Gwendolin (1); Pohl, Karolin (2); Schikora, Adam (2); Ordon, Frank (1)

1: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Quedlinburg, Germany; 2: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Epidemiology and Pathogen Diagnostics, Braunschweig, Germany

Leaf rust (Puccinia hordei) is one of the

major diseases of barley (Hordeum vul-

gare L.) leading to yield losses up to 60%

besides a reduction of malting quality. Re-

sistance genes Rph1-Rph25 are known in

barley but most of these have been over-

come meanwhile and the primary gene

pool of barley is to some extent depleted

for new resistance genes. Priming of bar-

ley may offer a new opportunity to en-

hance resistance to P. hordei. By quorum

sensing of bacteria communities N-acyl

homoserine lacton (AHL) is produced,

which induces systemic resistance in

Arabidopsis thaliana. The present study

therefore aims at the detection of genom-

ic regions involved in priming capacity of

barley which is one of the most important

cereal crops. For this purpose a diverse

set of 200 spring barley accessions is an-

alysed in greenhouse pot experiments for

priming efficiency regarding leaf rust re-

sistance and by genome wide association

studies (GWAS) to identify quantitative trait

loci (QTL).

The plants are treated with bacteria, i.e.

repaired Ensifer meliloti natural mutant

expR+ch overexpressing AHL and trans-

formed E. meliloti carrying the lactonase

gene attM from Agrobacterium tumefa-

ciens which inhibits AHL production and

acts as a control. After three inoculations

plants are infected with P. hordei strain

I-80 at the three leaves stage. 12 days af-

ter infection, scoring of diseased leaf area

and infection type, as well as biomass pro-

duction is conducted. First results showed

significant effects (p<0.001) of the bacte-

rial treatment indicating a positive effect of

priming on P. hordei resistance. Based on

the observed genotypic differences con-

cerning the effect of priming and 6,325

filtered markers from the Illumina 9k iSe-

lect Chip, 20 QTL involved were identified.

Experiments will be replicated in two ad-

ditional years to validate QTL regions and

develop molecular markers for priming ef-

ficiency.

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MAGIC MAPPING – High-resolution marker-trait association for pathogen resistanceSannemann, Wiebke (1); Lisker, Antonia (1); Kazman, Ebrahim (2); Cöster, Hilmar (3); Kempf, Hubert (4); Ebmey-er, Erhard (5); Gerjets, Tanja (6); Pillen, Klaus (1)

1: Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Halle, Germany; 2: Syngen-ta Seeds GmbH; 3: RAGT 2n; 4: Secobra Saatzucht GmbH; 5: KWS LOCHOW GmbH; 6: proWeizen Alliance

The MAGIC-WHEAT project pursues the

goal to develop new winter wheat (Triti-

cum aestivum L.) cultivars with improved

agronomic traits concerning yield, quality,

pathogen resistance and nutrient content.

The WM-800 population, derived from

eight modern winter wheat varieties was

screened among other traits for pathogen

resistance against Puccinia striiformis,

Puccinia triticina and Fusarium culmo-

rum under field conditions during the

season 2017 at five locations in Germa-

ny. Altogether, 7,849 polymorphic SNPs

(Traitgenetics) and a powerful genome

wide association mapping (GWAS) with

fivefold cross-validation (p≤0.001) was

used to estimate QTL effects.

Phenotypic data for stripe rust and leaf

rust as well as Fusarium head blight (FHB)

showed broad variability in pathogen sus-

ceptibility among the founders and within

WM-800. Altogether, 12, 8 and 21 QTLs

were detected for stripe rust, leaf rust and

FHB, respectively.

Known regions carrying stripe rust resis-

tance genes were mapped among the

QTLs for stripe rust susceptibility, howev-

er, an unmapped SNP (tplb0041b11_529)

revealed the strongest founder effect. The

non-Julius founder allele was associated

with a reduction of 1.3 score units on a

scale from 1 to 9.

Aside from Lr37 on chromosome 2A sev-

en novel QTLs for leaf rust resistance were

mapped, including a QTL on 4A revealing

highly significant marker-trait association

with leaf rust susceptibility.

Besides old acquaintances, the semi-

dwarf genes Rht-B1 and Rht-D1 influenc-

ing FHB susceptibility through control of

straw length, novel genetic regions locat-

ed on multiple wheat chromosomes were

detected for FHB resistance. For instance,

a highly significant FHB QTL on the short

arm of chromosome 5A may be explained

by the linked P450 gene through compari-

son of SNP sequences with the wheat ref-

erence sequences v1.0.

Our results confirm that WM-800 is a pow-

erful multi-parental mapping population

suitable to unveil the genetic architecture

of agronomic traits including pathogen re-

sistance through high-resolution QTL map-

ping.

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The genetic architecture of biomass formation in cereals revealed by non-invasive phenotypingNeumann, Kerstin (1); Zhao, Yusheng (1); Dhanagond, Sidram (1); Kilian, Benjamin (2); Reif, Jochen C. (1); Gra-ner, Andreas (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: Global Crop Diversity Trust, Ger-many

Future yield improvement is hampered by

biotic and abiotic stresses due to climate

change and accordingly, wheat and barley

yields in Germany showed a strong fluctu-

ation during the last 15 years. One factor

is the increased frequency and severity of

drought stress events, especially in spring

during the vegetative growth phase - affect-

ing the formation of biomass. Understand-

ing the genetics of biomass accumulation

under well-watered and seasonal drought

stress conditions can provide a basis for

stabilizing or even increasing grain yield.

Our experiments in different wheat and

barley collections show a general reduc-

tion of ~30% in grain yield caused by a

drought period in the vegetative stage.

To evaluate the genetics of biomass, an

automated phenotyping system with con-

trolled watering and non-invasive imaging

was used to evaluate diverse wheat and

barley collections under greenhouse con-

ditions. Genome-wide association scans

(GWAS) were applied to identify genetic

markers associated with variation in bio-

mass accumulation. Drought stress treat-

ment started in the tillering phase and inl-

cuded a recovery period until the imaging

period ended around tipping time. By daily

non-invasive imaging dynamics of biomass

accumulation could be resolved, both phe-

notypically and genetically. We obtained

high heritabilities for biomass under both

conditions and over the whole observa-

tion period. Early seedling biomass growth

was marked by a set of QTL lasting only

for short time. These QTL were replaced

by a different set that influenced vegetative

biomass at later growth stages and that

lasted for a longer period of time in both

crop species. Distinct loci were identified

for biomass under well-watered and stress

conditions. In addition, candidate genes

involved in plant growth hormone regula-

tion and phenology were identified.

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Small, but effective: miRNAs play a role in the crosstalk between flowering time and drought stress response in Brassica napusSchiessl, Sarah; Quezada, Daniela; Orantes, Mauricio; Snowdon, Rod

Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany

Plants are sessile organisms and have to

adapt to the conditions at the place where

they have germinated. This includes syn-

chronization of the reproductive cycle

with season, tolerance to biotic and abi-

otic stress and nutrient efficiency. Plants

have evolved complex regulatory networks

for the proper fine tuning of those adap-

tive traits like flowering time and stress

response. While many genetic factors of

flowering time regulation and stress sig-

naling have been identified in model plants

and also in crops, the link between those

networks has not been identified yet. miR-

NAs, a class of small non-coding regulato-

ry RNAs, have been found to be involved

in many developmental programs like ger-

mination, flowering time and senescence,

and have the potential to act as signaling

factor between different networks. In or-

der to study the role of miRNA in cross-

talk between flowering time and drought

stress response in rapeseed (Brassica

napus), a polyploid model crop, we grew

early and late flowering winter rapeseed

cultivars in large containers and applied a

period of water scarcity. We sampled leafs

and buds in stressed and control plants

and sequenced the small RNA. Our re-

sults shed light on the interaction between

the complex flowering time network and

stress signaling in B. napus. Stressed

plants showed a strong developmental

delay, which was associated to differential

small RNA expression.

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A small secreted protein from the Sr2/LrSV2/PM/Fhb1 locus of wheat affects resis-tance to Fusarium head blight and powdery mildewChen, Wanxin (1); Hedley, Pete (2); Schweizer, Patrick (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: James-Hutton Institute, Dundee DD2 5DA, Scotland UK

The Sr2/LrSV2/PM/Fhb1 locus of hexa-

ploid wheat on the short arm of chromo-

some 3B confers quantitative resistance

to stem and leaf rust, powdery mildew

(PM) and Fusarium head blight (FHB). In

order to find genes that are regulated by

the Fhb1 QTL we profiled transcription of

approximately 40,000 wheat homeolo-

gous gene groups in backcross lines that

differ in absence/presence of Fhb1. This

resulted in the identification of six FHB-in-

duced candidate genes with differential,

QTL-dependent expression. Four candi-

date genes localized to the wider Fhb1 re-

gion. Virus-induced gene silencing of one

of these co-localizing genes affected FHB

resistance of wheat. Because the gene is

also strongly up-regulated by powdery mil-

dew attack and since absence or presence

of Fhb1 also affected powdery mildew

basal resistance, we transiently expressed

both the Fhb1 and fhb1 alleles, which dif-

fer in amino-acid sequence of encoded

proteins, in wheat backcross lines. The re-

sults suggest that the gene candidate has

opposite effects against each of the patho-

gens, indicating potential resistance trade

off. Furthermore, allelic difference might

be related to differential expression during

the interaction with F. culmorum, but to dif-

ferential protein function in the case of the

powdery mildew interaction.

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A “MBR1012 x Scarlett” high-density iSelect 9K barley map facilitates genetic dissec-tion of net blotch resistancePerovic, Dragan (1); König, Janine (1); Silvar, Cristina (2); Nussbaumer, Thomas (3,4); Vatter, Thomas (1); Kopahn-ke, Doris (1); Afanasenko, Olga (5); Ordon, Frank (1)

1: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Quedlinburg, Germany2: Grupo de Inves-tigación en Bioloxía Evolutiva, Departamento de Bioloxía Animal, Bioloxía Vexetal e Ecoloxía, Universidade da Coruna, 15071-A Coruña, Spain; 3: Institute of Environmental Medicine (IEM), Helmholtz Center Munich, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuher-berg, Germany; 4: Institute of Network Biology (INET), Helmholtz Center Munich, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany; 5: State Scientific Establishment All-Russian Research Institute for Plant Protection (VIZR) of Russian Academy of Agri-cultural Sciences, Podbelsky, 3, 196608, Pushkin, Saint Petersburg, Russia

High-throughput genotyping platforms

and high-density molecular maps signifi-

cantly accelerate forward genetic exper-

iments i.e. candidate gene identification

in quantitative trait loci (QTL) in bi-parental

populations as well as genome-wide as-

sociation studies (GWAS), and identifica-

tion of major genes. In this study, based

on an Illumina 9K iSelect genotyping of

the doubled haploid (DH) population de-

rived from the cross between the landra-

ce ‘MBR1012’ and the cultivar ‘Scarlett’

resulted in a map comprising 2752 iSe-

lect SNPs, which together with previously

mapped 111 SSRs and PCR based SNPs,

give rise to a map of 2863 markers. The

total length of the genetic map is 1468,34

cM providing a density of theoretically one

marker per 0,52 cM or 2 markers per one

cM. Detailed comparison of this DH map

and the Recombinant Inbreed Lines (RIL)

‘Morex’ x ‘Barke’ 9K iSelect map revealed

significant length difference of 477,8 cM.

A set of 1489 molecular markers, out of

which1378 iSelect SNPs, were uniquely

mapped at the MxS map. The high-density

MxS map was used for genetic dissection

of net blotch resistance to three mono-

conidial isolates and at two fields, during

three years at two locations. In total, 11

quantitative trait loci (QTL) correspond-

ing to nine genomic regions at four barley

chromosomes, i.e. 2H, 3H, 5H and 7H,

explaining 6 % to 23,3 % of the pheno-

typic variance, were detected. At 9 QTL

regions spanning 38,08 cM including 75

molecular markers a set of 864 genes was

identified. Molecular markers from QTL

intervals could be used for transfer of re-

sistant QTLs into elite cultivars. Our results

revealed the presence of net blotch resis-

tance genes in both genotypes and pro-

vide the tools for their efficient deployment

in a barley breeding program.

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Novel large effect QTL delays flowering time in spring barleyPesaran Afsharyan, Nazanin; Léon, Jens; Ballvora, Agim

University of Bonn, Germany

Flowering time is a key complex trait that

switches plant’s life cycle from vegetative

to productive phase and strategically plays

a major role in adapting crops and their

yield and performance to certain agricul-

tural environments. Landraces have been

used successfully as donors to improve

the narrow elite gene pool. Most QTL map-

ping studies on flowering time in barley

have used spring and winter/wild crosses

to construct segregating populations to

study vernalization and photoperiod path-

ways. In the present study we investigat-

ed the genetic architecture of flowering

time in spring barley. For this purpose, the

eight-way spring barley MAGIC population

which was composed of seven landraces

and one elite cultivar was grown in 2016

and 2017 in field to collect data on days

to heading. By combining these data with

a highly dense 9k chip SNP marker infor-

mation via binary and haplotype approach-

es using a multi-locus model, we could

show that flowering time in spring barley

depends on both large-effect and small-ef-

fect QTLs as well as their complex network

of epistatic interactions. Furthermore,

our study revealed a large effect novel

“delayed-flowering” QTL which showed

strong epistatic interactions with Ppd-H1,

Vrn-H1, Vrn-H3 and denso/sdw1.

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Increasing barley’s arsenal against viruses by taking advantage of a wild relativePidon, Hélène (1); Wendler, Neele (2); Habekuss, Antje (3); Oldach, Klaus (2); Ordon, Frank (3); Korzun, Viktor (2); Stein, Nils (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: KWS LOCHOW GMBH, Ferdi-nand-von-Lochow-Straße 5, 29303 Bergen; 3: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Toler-ance, Quedlinburg, Germany

Virus diseases are causing important yield

losses in crops worldwide. In Europe, Bar-

ley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), transmitted

by aphids, and soil-borne Barley mild mo-

saic virus (BaYMV) and Barley mild mo-

saic virus (BaMMV), transmitted by Poly-

myxa graminis, are of prime importance in

this respect in barley. Chemical control of

viral diseases only relies on the control of

vectors, which is not desirable from an en-

vironmental point of view and with respect

to soil-borne vectors not even possible.

Thus, virus resistant cultivars are need-

ed. To achieve a durable virus resistance,

challenged by the emergence of different

virulent isolates, a combination of several

resistance genes for the same virus is a

valuable option. As the number of those

genes available in the cultivated barley

genepool is limited, related wild species

might serve as additional source of resis-

tance. We are investigating two dominant

resistance genes in Hordeum bulbosum,

a wild species representing the second-

ary gene pool of barley: Ryd4Hb, providing

resistance against BYDV, and Rym14Hb,

conferring resistance to BaMMV/BaYMV.

In previous studies, they were allocated

to chromosomes 3H and 6H, respectively

(Scholz et al., 2009; Ruge et al., 2003).

Thanks to the growing genomics resourc-

es and the use of large populations and

high throughput genotyping, we are aim-

ing at identifying these genes .

References:

Ruge, B., Linz, A., Pickering, R., Proe-

seler, G., Greif, P., & Wehling, P. (2003).

Mapping of Rym14Hb, a gene introgressed

from Hordeum bulbosum and conferring

resistance to BaMMV and BaYMV in bar-

ley. Theor Appl Genet 107: 965-971.

Scholz, M., Ruge-Wehling, B., Habekuß,

A., Schrader, O., Pendinen, G., Fischer,

K., & Wehling, P. (2009). Ryd4Hb: a novel

resistance gene introgressed from Horde-

um bulbosum into barley and conferring

complete and dominant resistance to the

barley yellow dwarf virus. Theor Appl Gen-

et 119: 837-849.

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Species-wide spectrum of Resistance genes in Arabidopsis thalianaVan de Weyer, Anna-Lena (1); Monteiro, Freddy (2); Furzer, Oliver (2); Bemm, Felix Mathias (1); Dangl, Jeff (2); Weigel, Detlef (1)

1: Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany; 2: Dept. of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA

Plant health is an essential component

of crop yield. Plant researchers are thus

driven to understand the molecular basis

of plant immunity and resistance. Resis-

tance genes are key players in a plant’s

fight against the tremendous diversity of

pathogenic attackers. Nucleotide-binding

and leucine-rich repeat (NLR) containing

genes represent one of the most import-

ant resistance gene families in plants.

They detect pathogenic effectors that try

to interfere with cellular processes and in-

duce resistance responses. As a result of

an evolutionary arms race between plants

and pathogens, NLRs have been shaped

by repeated ancient and ongoing dupli-

cation events, with many NLR genes be-

ing found in complex clusters. High vari-

ability between strains has been inferred

from comparisons of individual clusters

for a small number of strains, but the true

extent of species-wide NLR variation is

unknown -- even for the model plant Arabi-

dopsis thaliana.

Simple short read based re-sequencing

approaches have largely failed to answer

this question because of the excessive

sequence and copy number variation be-

tween accessions. We have used instead

NLR-sequence enrichment followed by

long-read sequencing to assemble and

annotate individual NLR’omes of a set of

65 A. thaliana accessions representing

the global diversity of the species.

Unexpectedly, a large fraction of genes

was conserved and could be recovered

by interrogating only a limited number of

accessions. Some NLRs, however, are

restricted to single accessions, or just a

few accessions. Expression data from the

1001 Transcriptomes project was used to

detect putative active NLRs that could be

candidates for functional studies.

We will discuss how rare NLRs, domain

architecture differences, within-gene in-

dels and SNPs contribute to NLR’ome

variation. The structural description of the

pan NLR’ome is a first step towards un-

derstanding the evolution of this important

gene family in A. thaliana and plants in

general.

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Breakout of first insights from exome sequencing the barley HEB-25 populationSchmutzer, Thomas; Maurer, Andreas; Milne, Linda; Draicchio, Fulvia; Bull, Hazel; Sharma, Rajiv; Flavell, Andrew J.; Pillen, Klaus

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Halle, Germany;

Barley is recognized as one of the very

first crops domesticated for human con-

sumption and ranks fourth in world grain

production, relative to other cereal crops.

Domestication and breeding efforts in the

past centuries led to a severe depletion

of diversity among many important crop

species, known as the bottleneck effect.

In order to counteract this, a wild barley

nested association mapping (NAM) popu-

lation ‘Halle Exotic Barley 25’ (HEB25) was

developed to replenish the elite breeding

gene pool with new exotic alleles. HEB-25

consists of 1,420 BC1S3 lines, resulting

from crosses between the spring barley

cultivar Barke (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vul-

gare) and 25 highly divergent exotic wild

barley accessions (H. v. ssp. spontaneum

and H. v. ssp. agriocrithon). We currently

study the genome diversity of HEB-25 by

exome capture sequencing to explore its

allelic variation. All lines were sequenced

with a custom exome capture protocol

reaching a ~10x coverage of the putative

gene space with Illumina derived sequenc-

es. These reads were aligned to the re-

cently published barley genome reference

(Morex). With this data set at hand, we are

able to investigate allelic variation on a pop-

ulation scale. First investigations revealed

a vast overlap to known allelic variations

encoded as SNP markers on the iSelect

50k SNP assay. Furthermore, our aim is

to develop a method to precisely locate

recombination breakpoints throughout the

HEB-25 collection.

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Mapping of genes for drought tolerance during seed germination in barleyMoursi, Yasser Shaaban Sayed (1); Thabet, Samar Gamal Mohamed (1); Karam, Mohamed Anwar (1); Graner, Andreas (2); Alqudah, Ahmad Mohamed (3)

1: Botany Departemnt, Fayoum University, Egypt; 2: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersle-ben, Germany; 3: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany

Drought is one of the harshest abiotic

stresses hindering seed germination, plant

growth, and crop productivity. A high rate

and uniformity of germination under stress-

ful conditions is vital for crop establishment

and growth, and thus for productivity. A

better understanding of the genetic archi-

tecture of seed germination under drought

stress is a prerequisite for further increas-

ing yield potential. Barley is considered

one of the most abiotic stresses-tolerant

cereals. Elucidating the drought tolerance

of barley during seed germination would

indeed pave the way towards improving

the performance of all cereals. However,

we still know relatively little about the ge-

netic control of drought tolerance during

seed germination phase. In our study, 218

worldwide spring barley accessions were

subjected to PEG-induced drought during

seed germination. Induced drought stress

“20% PEG” reduced the seed germina-

tion parameters and seedling related traits

significantly. A genome-wide association

scan was used to identify genomic regions

associated with our trait of interest. In to-

tal, 338 single nucleotide polymorphisms

(SNPs) were found to be associated with

several traits distributed across seven bar-

ley chromosomes, of which 26 genomic

regions were associated with candidate

genes. This study found some of the

quantitative trait loci (QTL) that have been

previously reported to be linked to seed

germination-related traits under drought

conditions, as well as some new associa-

tions. Noteworthy is the identified QTL co-

localized with a number of genes that are

exclusively distributed on chromosomes 1,

2 and 5. The annotation of these genes in

barley shows their roles in drought toler-

ance through encoding different transcrip-

tion factors. The function of the identified

genes during seed germination was also

confirmed by the annotation of their coun-

terparts in Arabidopsis. The current anal-

yses contribute significantly towards the

genetic resource of developmental and

adaptive traits in barley, and are of value in

future genetic and breeding work.

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High-resolution mapping of rym15 conferring resistance to Barley mild mosaic virus (BaMMV)Wang, Yaping; Habekuß, Antje; Perovic, Dragan; Ordon, Frank


Barley mild mosaic virus (BaMMV) trans-

mitted by Polymyxa graminis has a seri-

ous impact on barley yield. Although a

number of BaMMV resistance genes were

identified, resistance of some genes has

been broken by new virus strains/isolates.

Therefore, developing of closely linked

molecular markers and isolation of effec-

tive resistance genes is a genuine need

for sustainable barley production.

In previous studies on doubled haploid

(DH) lines of the cross ‘Chikurin Ibaraki 1’

× ‘Plaisant’ the BaMMV resistance gene

rym15 has been located on chromosome

6HS. However, in this cross the order of

markers is inverted in relation to the ge-

netic map derived from the cross ‘Lina’ ×

‘Canada Park’. Therefore, our work aims

to resolve the discrepancy between the

two maps, followed by narrowing down

the target region and saturate the map

with the final aim to isolate rym15.

Two crosses derived from resistant barley

cv. ‘Chikurin Ibaraki 1’ and susceptible

cultivars ‘Uschi’ and ‘Igri’ are used for the

construction for a high resolution mapping

population of rym15. Segregation ratios in

365 and 158 F2 plants from the ‘Chikurin

Ibaraki 1’ × ‘Igri’ and ‘Chikurin Ibaraki 1’

× ‘Uschi’, i.e 85(R) : 280(S) and 30(R) :

128(S), respectively, fit to a ratio of 1r:3s

(β2=0.571, β2=3.046), suggesting the

presence of one recessive resistance

gene.

Eight KASP markers and 6 SSR markers

were used for genotyping of these two

F2 based populations. The genetic map

was constructed and new robust co-dom-

inant flanking markers were identified.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) tech-

niques such as exome capture and GBS

based bulk segregant analysis (BSA) will

be used for marker saturation of the target

locus. In the end, about 5,000 F2

plants

will be screened with flanking markers to

develop a high density and resolution map

of the rym15 gene in order to facilitate po-

sitional gene isolation.

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Association Mapping for Resistance to the Net Form of Net Blotch in a diverse Barley SetNovakazi, Fluturë (1); Anisimova, Anna (2); Afanasenko, Olga (2); Kopanke, Doris (1); Ordon, Frank (1)

1: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Quedlinburg, Germany; 2: All-Russian In-stitute of Plant Protection, St. Petersburg, Russia

The Net Form of Net Blotch (NFNB) be-

longs to the most important diseases of

barley and is present in all barley growing

regions. Under optimal conditions it causes

high yield losses of 10%-40% and reduces

grain quality. The most cost effective and

environment-friendly way to prevent losses

is growing resistant cultivars. In order to

identify sources of resistance, more than

10,000 barley accessions were screened

for resistance to NFNB under greenhouse

and field conditions. Out of these 450 bar-

ley accessions expressing different levels

of resistance were selected. The set com-

prises landraces and commercial cultivars

from the centres of diversity.

Seedling resistance was assessed in

greenhouse trials with three NFNB iso-

lates; a Russian, a German and an Austra-

lian isolate, respectively. Additionally, field

trials were conducted in Germany (2015,

2016), in Belarus (2016, 2017), and in

Australia (2017). Greenhouse and field tri-

als revealed large differences concerning

resistance within the accessions tested.

Genotyping of the accessions was done

with the Barley 50k iSelect chip. The

marker data were filtered for a minor al-

lele frequency (MAF) >5%, missing data

<10% and heterozygosity <12.5%, leav-

ing 33,883 markers for conducting ge-

nome wide association studies (GWAS).

On a reduced marker set of about 8,500

markers the kinship with a Modified Rog-

er’s Distance and the population structure

were calculated. The software STRUC-

TURE showed the set is dividing into three

sub-populations. GWAS was carried out

using the software GAPIT with a Com-

pressed Mixed Linear Model (CMLM) in-

cluding population structure and kinship.

In order to get information on the reliability

of the marker-trait associations, a cross

validation with 1,000 runs was conducted.

Detection rates of >20% were considered

as significant associations and detection

rates of >50% were considered as par-

ticularly robust marker-trait associations.

Regions associated with NFNB resistance

were identified on all seven barley chromo-

somes.

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DFG-Predict: Omics-based prediction of hybrid performance and systems genetic analyses in spring oilseed rapeKnoch, Dominic (1); Abbadi, Amine (2); Bräutigam, Andrea (1); Grandke, Fabian (3); Himmelbach, Axel (1); Meyer, Rhonda C. (1); Riewe, David (1); Samans, Birgit (3); Snowdon, Rod (3); Altmann, Thomas (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: Norddeutsche Pflanzenzucht Innovation GmbH (NPZi), Hohenlieth-Hof, D-24363 Holtsee; 3: Justus Liebig University, Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Giessen, Germany;

Based on previous work on biomass and

heterosis prediction in Arabidopsis and

maize (Meyer et al., 2007 & Riedelsheimer

et al., 2012), the project is built on the hy-

pothesis that specific allelic combinations

of regulatory genes, their downstream

gene expression, as well as elicited me-

tabolite profiles, are associated with im-

proved vegetative growth and seed yield in

hybrids.

The project pursues two goals: on the one

hand to effectively predict hybrid perfor-

mance in spring oilseed rape by combin-

ing information of multiple omics-layers,

and on the other hand to identify genetic

loci causal for trait variation and to eluci-

date links between vegetative growth,

transcript and metabolite levels. For this

purpose, comprehensive datasets have

been generated at an early vegetative

stage for a collection of 475 genetically

diverse pollinator lines from a commercial

canola breeding programme and two elite

male-sterile testers. A F1 hybrid population

with 950 individuals was generated and

evaluated in the field. Detailed phenotyp-

ing data were generated by growing the

parental lines and selected hybrids in the

automated IPK high-throughput pheno-

typing platform for large plants (Junker et

al., 2014). Image-derived phenotype data

were complemented by global metabolite

(GC-MS) and transcriptome (mRNA-Seq)

profiles of pools of the same plants. These

data were utilised for correlation analyses,

and in combination with array-derived SNP

and CNV data for genome-wide-associa-

tion studies. Multiple co-localized mark-

er-trait-associations for different omics-lay-

ers were detected, including metabolites,

transcripts and growth-related traits. A

time resolved analysis revealed dynamic

contributions of loci for the accumulation

of biomass with certain loci being particu-

larly active in either an early, intermediate

and late phase. Finally, the individual and

combined data sets will be used to devel-

op models for prediction of hybrid perfor-

mance in field and greenhouse.

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Genomics-based high-resolution mapping of a QTL conferring Fusarium Head Blight resistance on chromosome 2A of Triticum monococcumBreidenbach, Caroline (1); Luthard, Lisa (1); Krämer, Ilona (1); Fedak, George (2); Ordon, Frank (1)

1: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Quedlinburg, Germany; 2: Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, Ottawa Research and Development Centre, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1A OC6

Fusarium culmorum and Fusarium gram-

inearum are causal agents of Fusarium

Head Blight (FHB), one of the most im-

portant diseases of wheat and other small

grain cereals worldwide. The infection

leads to high yield losses due to sterility of

spikelets and reduced kernel weight and

a decreased seed quality because of the

production of mycotoxins. Two neighbor-

ing QTL were mapped for FHB resistance

on chromosome 2A in a Triticum mono-

coccum- DH population derived from a

cross between Triticum monococcum

mon10-1 x Sinskaya based on two year’s

field trials and a DArT-map comprising

1987.5 cM. For the detection of closer

linked markers and the identification of

candidate genes responsible for FHB re-

sistance, a map based cloning approach

is performed. DArT markers flanking both

QTL were converted into KASP markers

in order to identify F2 plants carrying a re-

combination event in the target region. Out

of these recombinant plants, homozygous

recombinant inbred lines (RILs) for the

target interval are developed for marker

saturation and phenotyping with Fusari-

um culmorum Fc46. Up to now, 1991

F2-plants, providing a genetic resolution of

0.025 % recombination were analyzed and

333 segmental RILs were developed out

of 686 identified recombinant F2-plants.

The genetic distance between flanking

markers was determined at 18 cM for

both QTL. Nine markers were developed

from the genetic map of Triticum mono-

coccum so far for marker saturation and

for the construction of a high-resolution

map. Additional 53 markers are selected

from the sequences of chromosome 2A

of Triticum aestivum and Triticum urar-

tu and from Genotyping-by-Sequencing

(GBS). Results of the first phenotypic field

data from the growing season 2017 sug-

gest the location of the possible candi-

date gene between flanking SNP-markers

0667 and 1643 in an interval of 4.18 cM.

Additional greenhouse tests for resistance

on a larger number of segmental RILs are

conducted at present.

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Stage-specific QTL controlling vegetative growth in Arabidopsis thalianaMeyer, Rhonda C; Weigelt-Fischer, Kathleen; Altmann, Thomas


Plant growth is a complex process inte-

grating many genetic and environmental

factors. Until recently, growth analyses in

plants often focused on one or few time

points during the development, and con-

sequently detected mostly cumulative ef-

fects. The establishment of automated

non-invasive phenotyping facilitates the

almost continuous monitoring of plant

growth at many time points during devel-

opment, and thus allows to identify genetic

factors causing stage-specific differences

in growth rates. To this end, we assessed

the vegetative growth in 382 Arabidopsis

thaliana accession at 10 different devel-

opmental time points using the IPK auto-

mated phenotyping facility for small plants.

All accessions were phenotyped in three

independent, consecutive experiments,

and genotyped using the 250 k SNP array.

Both data sets were used for genome-wide

association mapping of plant size (project-

ed leaf area) and relative growth rates. Us-

ing the individual time point data, nine main

effect marker-trait associations (MTAs)

were detected that individually explained

up to 6% of the total phenotypic variation.

The detected MTAs displayed different

patterns of expression at various develop-

mental time points, indicating that the cor-

responding genes are either selectively ex-

pressed at different growth stages or their

functions are required (or growth-limiting)

only in certain developmental phases.

This highlights the need for investigation of

stage-specific growth affecting genes to

elucidate important processes operating

at different developmental phases.

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Winter faba bean as target species in mixed-cropping with winter wheatSiebrecht-Schöll, Daniel; Martsch, Regina; Link, Wolfgang


Usually, mixed stands yield higher than

comparable pure stands. Such yield incre-

ment is assumed to result from comple-

mentarity between mixtures’ component

crops. Mixtures of pulses such as faba

bean and non-legumes such as wheat

promise increased efficiency, sustainabil-

ity and resilience of food and feed produc-

tion. Here we report on performance of

winter faba beans (Vicia faba) and winter

wheat (Triticum aestivum) as mixed-crop.

Better understanding the genetic whys

and wherefores of yield increment in this

mixture would allow to more reliably exploit

this phenomenon.

• Which (type of) winter faba beans will

achieve the highest grain yield perfor-

mance when grown as mixed stands

with wheat?

• Which breeding-relevant trait will co-

vary with variation of yield and of yield

increment?

• Will the novel winter faba beans show

any kind of striking DNA-based diversi-

ty pattern?

To this end, mixed stands of N=8 novel

winter faba bean lines and N=3 released

winter wheat cultivars were compared with

their corresponding pure stands within

the frame of IMPAC³. In 2015, 2016 and

2017, field experiments at three locations

(r=4) were implemented through the Uni-

versität of Göttingen. The pure and mixed

stands were laid out in a row intercropping

design over 360 plots; N-fertilizer applica-

tion was zero. Developmental and yield pa-

rameters were observed in detail. Results

showed significant yield increments of the

mixtures compared to the pure stands.

Moreover, there was a significant variation

of this mixing effect caused by differenc-

es among the eight winter faba bean lines.

Additionally, SNP and AFLP markers were

employed to compare the diversity pattern

of these winter faba bean lines with that of

the conventional, elite germplasm pool as

currently used in breeding for pure stand

performance of winter faba beans.

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Breeding progress in biomass amaranth (Amaranthus spp.)Baturaygil, Ali; Schmid, Karl

University of Hohenheim, Institute for Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, Stuttgart, Gemany;

Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) is an ancient

crop that originated from the Americas and

is considered as a suitable biomass crop

under long-day conditions because of a

prolonged vegetative growth. We evalu-

ated the biomass potential of amaranth

in two agro-ecologically diverse locations

using the best ten genotypes derived by

repeated self-fertilization of offspring from

different spontaneous crosses. These

genotypes were selected in previous field

experiments and compared to Bärnkrafft,

which used to be the only registered ama-

ranth variety of Germany. We also evaluat-

ed the distinctness, uniformity, and stabili-

ty (DUS) traits to determine the potential of

the existing material for variety protection.

We determined several biomass-related

traits and dry matter content. We found

that a single genotype outperformed all

other genotypes in biomass yield compo-

nents and reached a high level of unifor-

mity after Bärnkrafft. Plant height and dry

matter content were found to be the traits

that have the strongest influence on bio-

mass potential. Despite repeated self-fer-

tilization and single seed descent, all gen-

otypes showed highly variable DUS traits

indicating still a remarkable segregation

pattern in morphological traits. Two main

growth patterns were observed in the gen-

otypes. Grain type amaranth, represented

by Bärnkrafft, was characterized by short

plant height and high dry matter content

driven by early flowering time. In contrast,

late flowering nature of biomass amaranth

genotypes led longer plants with lower

dry matter content. Overall, large herita-

bility values were estimated for biomass

yield components. Although it has been

bred for a noticeably short time compared

to its strong competitors such as maize,

amaranth is concluded to be a promising

alternative crop that is able to perform a

considerable progress in response to phe-

notypic selection efforts.

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Exploring allelic diversity underlying breeding progress in European wheatStahl, Andreas (1); Voss-Fels, Kai P. (2); Friedt, Wolfgang (1); Snowdon, Rod (1); Wittkop, Benjamin (1)

1: Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany; 2: The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Despite the remarkable successes that

were achieved in the history of wheat

breeding, future wheat production remains

challenging. Climatic changes that lead to

unprecedented extreme weather scenar-

ios are accompanied by a rising disease

pressure and a declining fertiliser availabil-

ity. While the dramatic global population

growth necessitates a significant further

improvement of wheat productivity in the

upcoming decades, a stagnation of wheat

yield increases has recently been reported

in all major production areas worldwide.

This has mainly been attributed to a drastic

loss of genetic diversity in elite breeding

pools due to strong selective breeding

and intensive germplasm exchange. At the

same time there are public concerns that

modern agriculture can only sustain pro-

ductivity under extremely high resource

inputs involving chemical fertilisers and

plant protection, while the actual impact

of genetic improvements remains elusive.

Here, we present the first large-scale in-

vestigation of the impact of wheat breed-

ing on all major trait complexes in a historic

panel of almost 200 registered European

winter wheat varieties, including important

representatives of the last five decades of

winter wheat production. Presenting phe-

notype data from multiple locations and

three different cropping systems that range

from fully extensive to fully intensive, we

are able to demonstrate the great impact

of genetic improvement on performance

increase under any environmental sce-

nario. Linking this to genome-wide marker

information we are able to track the influ-

ence of artificial selection on genetic pa-

rameters throughout the history of wheat

breeding and to define target regions with

the highest impacts on agronomically im-

portant traits. Our study gives first insights

into the genetic basis of the improvement

of high-yielding winter wheat and assess-

es the potential for further genetic gain in

the European elite germplasm pool in the

short- and mid-term.

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Mapping QTL for grain yield and thousand grain weight in the multiparental wheat population WM-800Lisker, Antonia (1); Sannemann, Wiebke (1); Maurer, Andreas (1); Kazman, Ebrahim (2); Cöster, Hilmar (3); Kempf, Hubert (4); Ebmeyer, Erhard (5); Gerjets, Tanja (6); Pillen, Klaus (1)

1: MLU Halle-Wittenberg, Germany; 2: Syngenta Seeds GmbH, Germany; 3: RAGT 2n, Germany; 4: Secobra Saatzucht GmbH, Germany; 5: KWS LOCHOW GMBH, Germany; 6: GFPi proWeizen Alliance, Germany

The MAGIC-WHEAT WM-800 project pur-

sues the goal to develop new winter wheat

cultivars with improved agronomic traits

concerning yield, quality, pathogen resis-

tance and nutrient efficiency.

The WM-800 population, which is based

on an eight-way-cross (Cavanagh et al.

2008) of modern German winter wheat

cultivars, was grown in Germany at three

different locations in 2017. The population

was investigated under two contrasting ni-

trogen levels (N0 low nitrogen treatment;

N1 common practice of nitrogen treat-

ment) in regard to grain yield and thousand

grain weight (TGW).

In addition to descriptive statistics, we cal-

culated Least-Squares means (LSmeans)

for the traits across locations and between

the two nitrogen levels with Proc MIXED

(SAS Enterprise Guide 6.1). Genotypic

data were collected based on the Illumi-

na wheat 15k SNP chip (TraitGenetics).

Finally, 800 MAGIC lines genotyped with

7,849 polymorphic SNPs were available

for the following Genome Wide Associa-

tion Study (GWAS), which was conducted

with Proc GLM (SAS 9.4).

The descriptive statistics showed high sig-

nificant differences between N0 and N1

treatment, as well as a high variance within

both traits. GWAS under N0 treatment re-

sulted in 20 significant QTL for each trait,

yield and TGW, with a significance level of

p ≤ 0.001. GWAS under N1 treatment re-

sulted in 15 significant QTL for yield and

29 significant QTL for TGW with a signifi-

cance level of p ≤ 0.001.

High effects for both traits were found at

the causal SNPs of the Rht-B1 and Rht-D1

genes. The occurrence of these SNPs

demonstrates the relevance of the major

Rht genes and confirms its influence on

important agronomical traits. In addition,

a novel QTL with a strong effect on grain

yield under N0 treatment was detected on

chromosome 3B. Further investigations

are required to dissect the genetic archi-

tecture of grain yield under contrasting ni-

trogen supply.

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Blue lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.) – A new source for vegan food?Lohwasser, Ulrike (1); Dieterich, Regine (2); Ruge-Wehling, Brigitte (3); Jansen, Gisela (3); Börner, Andreas (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: Saatzucht Steinach, Bocksee, Germany; 3: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Groß Lüsewitz, Germany

Narrow-leafed blue lupin (Lupinus angus-

tifolius L.) is the one of the most recently

domesticated crops in major agricultural

cultivation. Its seeds are high in protein

and dietary fibre, but low in oil and starch.

The protein content is with 35% compara-

ble to the soybean protein content (39%).

But lupins are not gene-modified. A lot of

products are available on the market like

lupin milk, cheese, sausages, ice-cream,

etc.

Only six domestication genes separate the

wild gene pool from the cultivated gene

pool. However, due to strong selection

on these genes, the gene pool is narrow.

Therefore the question is if the gene pool

can be expanded by gene bank acces-

sions by focusing on favorable character-

istics such as sweet type, yield, drought

tolerance and anthracnose resistance.

Finally, the protein and alkaloid content is

investigated. In this study 200 accessions

and two control cultivars were character-

ized for 42 agronomic and morphological

traits. They were also evaluated under nor-

mal water management, drought-stress

after 50% flowering and when 50% of the

plants stopped flowering. Drought stress

reduces yield considerably as well as

harvest time, number of pods per branch

and plant, number of seeds per plant, pod

length and width. Yield under the three

different water regimes was most related

with date of harvest and pod length. Some

drought-tolerant accessions could be

found; however, those accessions were

not high yielding. But some other acces-

sions have favorable characteristics, e.g.

12 accessions were higher yielding than

the highest yielding control cultivar. Those

accessions with favorable characters can

potentially be used for breeding purposes

in future. Moreover, the blue lupin could

be of interest as an alternative for soybean

and a new source for vegan food.

Acknowledgements: The project (code

2814EPSO10) is funded by the German

Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

(BMEL).

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Cell separation and degeneration genes in barley anther developmentPrzybyl, Marine; Neumann, Ulla; Acosta, Ivan Felipe


The production of enough food for an in-

creasing population is one of today’s big-

gest challenges. Higher crop yields can

be gained by hybrid seed production

which benefits from the heterosis effect.

However, current systems for hybrid seed

productions have limitations and are not

available for every crop. Consequently, a

detailed understanding of anther develop-

ment is necessary to provide new targets

to manipulate male fertility. Because little

is known about the molecular mechanisms

of anther development in the important

temperate crops wheat and barley, my

work focuses on the characterization of

the barley mutants male sterile genetic

32 (msg32) and msg36. The histological

analysis of msg32 anthers indicates that

they display a defect in tapetum morphol-

ogy and degeneration, leading to micro-

spore abortion. Furthermore, a preliminary

ultra-structural visualization by TEM sug-

gests that pollen wall formation is altered.

In contrast, msg36 anthers have a defect

late in development with a failed or de-

layed breakdown of the cells defining the

opening region which results in an almost

complete block of anther opening. Puta-

tive candidate genes underlying the male

sterile phenotypes were identified using

a combination of genetic mapping and

SNP detection via RNAseq. The candidate

gene for msg32 encodes a mitochondrial

aldehyde dehydrogenase and for msg36

a pectin-lyase like superfamily protein.

These candidates are further supported

by qRT-PCR data showing peaks of gene

expression at the stages where the mutant

phenotypes are observed. We hypothe-

size that MSG32 maintains the metabolic

homeostasis of the tapetum to guarantee

its timely degeneration and that MSG36 is

a cell wall-degrading enzyme involved in

cell separation to guarantee anther open-

ing for appropriate pollen release.

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Genetic variation and inheritance of the cruciferin and napin content in a genetically diverse oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) set and development of a NIRS calibrationKlages, Nils; Richter, Jan-Christoph; Möllers, Christian

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Department of Crop Sciences, Division of Plant Breeding

Improving the protein quality of oilseed

rape is of increasing importance. The

press cake, which remains after the oil ex-

traction, contains 35 – 40% protein and

is a valuable feedstuff for animals and a

potential source for human nutrition. The

current and future task of breeders will not

only be to increase the oil content of the

seeds but also to enhance the protein con-

tent of the meal and to adjust the protein

quality to different needs. Regarding the

protein composition, mature seeds main-

ly contain cruciferin (60%, 300 kD) and

napin (20%, 13 kD) whose proportion to

each other define the protein quality. Both

proteins have different structural, thermal,

functional and biological properties which

makes them attractive for a wide range of

applications in food and non-food produc-

tion. As part of the new joint project RaPEQ

the development of new options for the

application of rapeseed protein as an ex-

cellent source for human consumption is

targeted. The genetically diverse oilseed

rape set WIFERAPS comprises 330 gen-

otypes, including predominantly European

cultivars as well as resynthesized oilseed

rape forms and breeding lines. The pro-

tein quality of this set of plant material will

be analyzed by means of SDS PAGE. The

set was tested in 2016/17 in 5 field ex-

periments located in Göttingen, Einbeck,

Peine and Gola (Poland) using an unrepli-

cated design. Open pollinated seeds har-

vested from 5 - 10 plants were bulked for

the analysis. A preselection of promising

genotypes with contrasting cruciferin and

napin contents will be performed applying

a preliminary NIRS calibration equation.

The newly generated NIRS spectra and

protein data will be used to improve the

already existing NIRS calibration equation

for fast, cost-effective and non-destruc-

tive prediction of the cruciferin/napin ratio

in the seeds simultaneous to other seed

quality traits. The financial support by the

BMBF-project RaPEQ (FKZ: 031B0198)

is kindly acknowledged.

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Increasing wheat yield by focusing on light interception?Lichthardt, Carolin; Chen, Tsu-Wei; Stützel, Hartmut

Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Horticultural Production Systems

Canopy architecture and green leaf area

duration determine the postanthetic ra-

diation interception and the size of the

photosynthetic apparatus, two essential

components of wheat grain yield. Here we

hypothesize that the yield increase of mod-

ern wheat cultivars can be partly explained

by their extended kernel filling duration and

a more translucent canopy architecture.

Within the framework of the collaborative

research project BRIWECS (Breeding in-

novations in wheat for resilient cropping

systems) we conducted field experiments

in three consecutive years (2015-2017)

using 220 winter wheat cultivars, which

were genotyped by the 15K iSelect SNP

chip for genome wide association stud-

ies. During the vegetative and generative

phases, leaf area index (LAI) and light in-

terception efficiency (LIE) was measured

every two weeks nondestructively by the

LAI-2200C Plant Canopy Analyzer and

the LI-191 Line Quantum Sensor (Li-Cor,

USA), respectively. Furthermore, to quan-

tify the green leaf area duration (LAD),

the fraction of green leaf area (GLA) was

visually scored (%) during the generative

phase. Postanthetic green canopy dura-

tion (GCD), defined as the time between

anthesis and 50% senescence, was de-

termined by fitting the relationship be-

tween GLA and thermal time by a sigmoid

function. A subset of 100 wheat varieties,

representing the breeding history of Ger-

man winter wheat of the last 50 years, was

used to investigate the changes in LAI,

LIE, LAD and GCD by the breeding prog-

ress. Our analyses showed that LAI and

GCD explained yield increase of modern

cultivars. Future works will give insight into

the genetic background of these canopy

traits and the selection process as GWAS

analyses will be conducted on all traits to

find co-locolization. Population genetic

methods will be applied, to find patterns

on the genome which give hints to unin-

tentional selection pressure leading to the

fixation of the relevant genomic regions.

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Development and evaluation of advanced lines derived from cultivated rice (Oryza sati-va L.) and common wild rice (O. rufipogon Griff.) for outcross promoting traitsKhumto, Saran (1); Pusadee, Tonapha (1); Jamjod, Sansanee (1,2)

1: Department of Plant Science and Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand; 2: Lanna Rice Research Center, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand

Cultivated rice (O. sativa L.) is self-pollinat-

ing, with floral traits that exclude cross-pol-

lination. Hybrid rice seed production is

therefore limited by low outcrossing rate

between parental lines. To improve out-

crossing potential of cultivated rice, com-

mon wild rice (O. rufipogon Griff.) was

used as a source for outcrossing traits

and backcrossed to an elite Thai rice cul-

tivar, Suphanburi 1. In this study, the F6

progenies of the backcross (BC2F6) were

grown and evaluated for floral traits in com-

parison with the cultivated rice parent. Flo-

ret samples of each plant were collected

at anthesis to measure floral organs size,

number of pollen per anther, pollen viabil-

ity and longevity, and frequency of stigma

exertion. We found that floral traits of these

progenies facilitate outcrossing more than

the cultivated rice parent. Anthers were

52-73% longer with 72-132% more pol-

len. Pollens had high viability and germi-

nated up to 6-7 minutes after being shed

from the anther sacs. The lengths of the

stigmas were more than twice the length

of cultivated parent, and were in the same

size as common wild rice. The F6 proge-

nies also had high rate of stigma exertion

with stigmas typically exerted on both sides

of the rice florets. Moreover, agronomic

characters of these backcross progenies

were similar to the cultivated rice parent,

indicating that undesirable traits of the wild

rice were eliminated during selection pro-

cedures. The backcross breeding lines

developed in this study could be useful for

developing the male or female parents with

high outcrossing potential to be used in hy-

brid rice breeding programs.

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The More the Better: Robust SNP dose data for marker-assisted-breeding in tetraploid rosesSchulz, Dietmar; Linde, Marcus; Debener, Thomas

Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany

For ornamental plants, like cut- and garden

roses, floral traits are the most important

characteristics to attract consumers and

therefore determine the financial value of

the cultivar. Improvement of these traits,

like petal number or scent, in roses and

also other ornamentals is mostly not done

using as sophisticated breeding- and se-

lection strategies as in other major crops.

Also a number of studies have been con-

ducted on qualitative and quantitative fac-

tors influencing floral traits but almost all

of these studies were based on biparental

diploid populations. Therefore, a general

application of some of these markers linked

to single genes or QTLs to broader germ-

plasm collections still need verification or

is not possible at all. We made an associa-

tion study in a set of 96 diverse rose gen-

otypes using the WagRhSNP 68k Axiom

SNP array phenotyping more than 20 traits

including resistances, flower colour, petal

number, petal size and scent. Here we

present SNP markers for the petal num-

ber and scent of rose flowers which have

significant dose dependant effects on the

respective trait in the 96 rose genotypes.

Some of these SNPs have already be vali-

dated in sets of independent cultivars and

experimental populations showing signif-

icant dose dependant effects. Our data

indicate that several of these marker trait

associations are useful beyond the initial

population and could be used to selected

optimal parental genotypes for breeding

in other rose populations. Furthermore,

the markers displaying strong dosage de-

pendent effects in autotetraploid roses are

useful tools for the study of gene function

in roses.

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Production primary octoploid triticale from incompatible crossesTikhenko, Natalia (1,2); Mascher, Martin (1); Rutten, Twan (1); Senula, Angelika (1); Rubtsova, Myroslava (1); Tsv-etkova, Natalia (3); Himmelbach, Axel (1); Börner, Andreas (1)

1: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany; 2: SPb Branch Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, RAS, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia; 3: St. Petersburg State University, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia

The wild and cultivated relatives of family

Gramineae are source of useful alleles

for wheat improvement. Rye (Secale ce-

reale L.) is a close relative of wheat (Triti-

cum aestivum L.) that provides a vast ge-

netic variation for commercially important

traits such as stress tolerance, biomass,

yield and photosynthetic potential not only

for triticale, but also for wheat itself. This

biodiversity is not yet sufficiently utilized

in wheat and triticale breeding programs

and only a limited number of the modern

cultivars of wheat contain wild species in

their pedigree. Postzygotic isolating mech-

anisms between the Triticum and Secale

genera ensure that not every cross be-

tween wheat and rye results in a hybrid

plant. Such postzygotic barriers as embry-

onic lethality and hybrid sterility, which are

controlled by a pairs of complementary in-

compatible alleles of both parents, signifi-

cantly limit the possibility of obtaining pri-

mary triticale and lead to a sharp decrease

in the efficiency of hybridization of parental

forms. The proposed approach allows to

overcome these barriers effectively and to

obtain highly fertile forms of primary triti-

cale based on incompatible combinations.

The use of GBS analysis of genotypes

of the offsprings from such incompatible

crosses made it possible to evaluate the

role of somaclonal and combinative vari-

ability in the stabilization of new forms and

to classify the rearrangements of the ge-

nomes of both parents in offsprings with

different fertility levels.

This study was funded by the German

Research Foundation (grant number BO

1423/17-1/603175).

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New Brassica napus × B. nigra hybrids for blackleg resistance introgression in rape-seed breedingGäbelein, Roman; Mason, Annaliese


Leptosphaeria maculans (blackleg or

Phoma disease, anamorph Phoma lin-

gam) is one of the main pathogens of

rapeseed (Brassica napus), causing an-

nual yield losses between 5 and 20% in

the main growing areas of Europe, Can-

ada and Australia. Applied resistance

mechanisms are under constant pressure

and frequently overcome by continuously

evolving pathotypes.

Brassica nigra (black mustard), a close

relative of B. napus, is a potential donor

for introgression of new resistance genes

into oilseed rape.

Hybrids were produced by crossing male

sterile and male fertile cultivars of Bras-

sica napus with three different cultivars

of B. nigra. Twelve days after pollination,

embryo rescue was applied to ensure the

development of triploid hybrids. True hy-

brid plants were clearly distinguishable by

intermediate phenotypic characteristics

and the triploid karyotype was confirmed

by flow cytometry.

Eighty-nine triploid hybrids were derived

from 5 different cross combinations.

Clones of 42 different F1 hybrid plants

were subjected to in-vitro colchicine treat-

ment, resulting in the development of 16

different hexaploid hybrid plants. Novel

Phoma resistance in the B. nigra parents

was confirmed by cotyledon inoculation

tests using 11 different field-collected iso-

lates from Germany.

Adult plant resistance status of the hybrids

is currently being evaluated. Suitability of

triploid and hexaploid material for disease

resistance transfer will be assessed by cy-

togenetic analysis of the first meiosis, us-

ing FISH and GISH chromosome staining

to differentiate C and B genome chromo-

somes and to provide evidence of genetic

transfer between the subgenomes. In fu-

ture, this material is expected to provide

a novel source of blackleg disease resis-

tance for rapeseed breeding.

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Analyzing the genetic diversity and architecture of sorghum pollen fertility under cold stressSchaffasz, Andre; Windpassinger, Steffen; Snowdon, Rod; Wittkop, Benjamin

Department of Plant Breeding, IFZ Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition, Justus Liebig University, Germany

Sorghum bicolor L. Moench is a potential

substitute of maize as a renewable bioen-

ergy crop in Germany. As an originally trop-

ical plant, sorghum is very sensitive to cold

stress (<12 °C) during microsporogenesis.

Under German growing conditions sor-

ghum flowering time falls into the late sum-

mer months August and September, where

cold nights are common and can induce

male sterility, resulting in poor seed set.

Particularly for sorghum dual-use types,

with their shorter stature and higher pro-

portion of grains on total biomass yield, a

satisfying seed set is essential to compete

with the classical biomass type. In a diver-

sity set of (n=325) lines and (n=90) fac-

torial experimental hybrids, the variation,

inheritance and genetic architecture of the

trait chilling stress tolerance during flower-

ing will be evaluated. This diversity set will

be tested over two years in five different

environments in Germany and Mexico. In

addition to the field experiments the paren-

tal lines and their respective experimental

hybrids are tested under controlled climate

chamber conditions. Phenotyping of seed

set will be done by calculating the panicle

harvest index (PHI). Further, pollen fertility

and viability traits will be measured via im-

pedance flow cytometry. Finally a genome

wide association study will be performed

to find genomic regions influencing the

cold stress tolerance during sorghum mi-

crosporogenesis. With this knowledge the

future development of new cold tolerant

breeding lines and hybrid varieties can be

facilitated.

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CMS-based breeding of winter barley hybridsBernhard, Timm; Friedt, Wolfgang; Snowdon, Rod; Wittkop, Benjamin

Department of Plant Breeding, Justus Liebig University, Germany

Winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is the

third most important crop in Germany,

mainly used for animal fodder. As an auto-

gamous cereal, the majority of registered

barley varieties are true breeding inbred

lines. However, breeding efforts are today

tending towards the incorporation of hy-

brid varieties, which combine higher yields

with a better yield stability and stress toler-

ance. This has already been demonstrated

in former investigations.

For an effective and cost-efficient seed

production of hybrid barley a cytoplasmic

male sterility (CMS) system is needed to

ensure high hybridity. The common CMS

system found in H. spontaneum is known

to be temperature-dependent and pho-

to-sensitive, which currently presents a

major problem for production of homoge-

neous hybrid seeds. Besides these envi-

ronmental factors, the genetic background

of potential female lines also affects the

reversion of sterility, causing seed set in

selfed “sterile” mother lines. In former

experiments, dependence of both the

CMS mother lines and their maintainers

on the genetic background could be ob-

served. Investigations using BC1S1 pop-

ulations, derived by crosses of two CMS

mother lines with various maintainer lines,

revealed a clear segregation of the CMS

instability trait following a 3:1 ratio (fer-

tile:sterile plants) suggesting a monogenic

inheritance. The objective of the present

study is a genome-wide association study

using the phenotyped BC1S1 populations

to investigate the genetic background and

to find potential candidate genes. Hence

marker-assisted selection regarding the

CMS instability enables a reliable creation

of stable CMS pools. This would be a big

advantage for effective and cost-efficient

winter barley hybrid breeding programs.

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Single parent expression is a general mechanism driving extensive complementation of non-syntenic genes in maize hybridsBaldauf, Jutta (1); Marcon, Caroline (1); Lithio, Andrew (2); Vedder, Lucia (3); Altrogge, Lena (3); Piepho, Hans-Pe-ter (4); Schoof, Heiko (3); Nettleton, Dan (2); Hochholdinger, Frank (1)

1: Institute for Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Crop Functional Genomics, University of Bonn, 53113 Bonn, Germa-ny; 2: Departments of Statistics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-1210, USA; 3: Institute for Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Crop Bioinformatics, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany; 4: Institute for Crop Science, Biostatistics Unit, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany

Distantly related maize (Zea mays L.) in-

bred lines exhibit an exceptional degree

of structural genomic diversity, which is

probably unique among plants. We sur-

veyed how the structural genomic diversity

of a maize inbred line panel (B73, Mo17,

A554, H84, H99, Oh43 and W64A) af-

fects the transcriptomic plasticity of their

F1-hybrids during three stages of early

primary root development. A RNA-seq ex-

periment was designed to maximize the

number of direct comparisons among the

parent-hybrid pairs and to simultaneously

ensure a high degree of precision for indi-

rect comparisons. Genes active in one but

inactive in the second parental inbred line

represent an extreme instance of allelic di-

versity, which was denoted as single parent

expression (SPE). We demonstrated that

extreme gene expression complementa-

tion in F1-hybrids is a general mechanism

extensively implemented by genes active in

only one parent. In all genotype-by-stage

combinations ~1,000 genes show SPE

patterns even in B73-independent hybrid

crosses of the distantly related inbred lines

Oh43 and W64A. Along primary root de-

velopment, a substantial number of genes

displaying SPE patterns were conserved,

while only a small proportion were con-

served between the different genotypes.

Consequently, the number of expressed

genes in all hybrids at all developmental

stages exceeded their parental inbred

lines by several hundred. Gene expres-

sion complementation is mainly driven by

evolutionary younger non-syntenic genes,

which emerged after the separation of

the maize and sorghum lineages. Among

those, the highly diversified families of

bZIP and bHLH transcription factors were

specifically overrepresented. Based on

their attributed functions, these genes in-

dividually provide only minor advantages,

but might collectively contribute to the su-

perior plasticity of hybrids.

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Root-transcriptome responses to water deficit and salt stress during early barley de-velopmentOsthoff, Alina; Hochholdinger, Frank

University Bonn, Germany

Water shortage and high soil salinity are

the main reasons for global yield loss. To

ensure survival under harsh environmental

conditions plants implement gene expres-

sion changes, which in turn lead to adap-

tive changes in physiological processes

and pathways.

The root system is the first plant organ that

encounters such stresses. Based on RNA-

Seq experiments, this study investigated

differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in

seminal roots of barley seedlings exposed

to abiotic drought and high salinity stress

and a combination of both after six and 24

hours of treatment. To obtain further infor-

mation on responsive pathways that are

involved in stress response, GO term anal-

yses were performed. Per treatment >60%

of the DEGs that showed a response to

long-term stress were also responsive to

short-term stress. Comparison of DEGs

across treatments and time points re-

vealed that stress-type and duration affect

the number of DEGs. In total, more than

5,000 and 9,000 genes were differentially

expressed after six and 24 hours, respec-

tively. Short-term combined stress resulted

in over 3,000 DEGs that were unique for

this treatment. Long-term stress response

showed a substantial overlap with the

drought and the combined treatment. A

GO enrichment analysis identified 65 and

123 terms that were enriched in at least

one treatment among up and down-regu-

lated DEGs, respectively. Several up-reg-

ulated terms including ‘transcription fac-

tor activity’, ‘DNA-binding’ and ‘regulation

of metabolic processes’ were conserved

among all treatments, indicating a gener-

al role in water deficit response. The GO

term ‘catalytic activity’ was down regulated

throughout all treatments. This study pro-

vides novel insights into stress-responsive

genes in young barley roots and provides a

resource for further genetic analyses and

breeding approaches.

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Genetic and Transcriptional Variations in NRAMP-2 and OPAQUE1 Genes are Linked to Salt-Tolerance in WheatOyiga, Benedict Chijioke (1); Ogbonnaya, Francis Chucks (2); Sharma, Ram Chandra (3); Baum, Michael (4); Léon, Jens (1); Ballvora, Agim (1)

1: INRES, Universität Bonn, Germany, Germany; 2: Grains Research and Development Corporation, Kingston, Australian Capital Territory 2604, Australia; 3: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Tashkent, Uzbekistan; 4: International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Al Irfane, 10112, Rabat, Morocco

Wheat production needs to increase by

60% in the coming decades to feed the ex-

pected 9-billion people. This is against the

backdrop of continuous salinization of ara-

ble-land and climatic change. Identification

of the genetic and molecular components

of salt-stress tolerance (ST) will contribute

to the understanding of the mechanistic

basis of wheat response salt-stress. In

this study, 150 elite-bread wheat breeding

lines were evaluated for leaf-chlorophyll

fluorescence, seed-quality and shoot-io-

nomic (Na+ and K+ ions) parameters un-

der salinity stress conditions. The GWAS

identified 104 marker-trait associations

(R2=0.12-63.44%) that were resolved into

16 SNP-clusters for ST. Eleven of the de-

tected SNP-loci had multiple effects on

ST-traits including the loci at 99.04 cM

(R2=14.7%) and 68.45 cM on chromo-

some 6AL and 4BL, respectively, that had

pleiotropic effect on multiple ST-traits such

as shoot Na+-content, shoot-K+/Na+ ratio

and specific energy fluxes (per reaction

center) for both absorption-(ABS/RC) and

dissipation- (DIo/RC). The analyses of the

detected SNP-loci indicated that they are

orthologous to several genes that are in-

volved in photosynthesis and plant-stress

response. These genes were mostly

up-regulated in salt-tolerant and down-reg-

ulated in salt-sensitive wheat genotypes.

Examination of the expression profiles of

all candidate genes within the associated

scaffolds revealed that NRAMP-2 (on 4BL)

and OPAQUE1 (on 6AL) genes, that are

in-linkage with the detected SNP-loci in

this study, are the most-highly expressed

genes in the respective scaffolds. Analy-

ses of their promoter and coding regions

revealed the possible cis-acting regulato-

ry elements (CREs) and coding sequence

variations that might be regulating ST-re-

sponse of these genes when sequences

of two salt-tolerant and two salt-sensitive

wheat genotypes were compared. The

functional relevance of the identified ge-

netic cues for ST in wheat genetic back-

ground are currently been envisaged and

we have identified the orthologues of

these genes in Arabidopsis thaliana for

exploitation in mutant analyses under dif-

ferent salt-stress regimes.

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Inheritance of seed oil content in the winter oilseed rape doubled haploid population Adriana x SGEDH13Yusuf, Abdusaheed Olabisi; Richter, Jan-Christophe; Möllers, Christian

Georg-August Universiät Göttingen, Germany

Further improving the seed oil content and

the seed quality is a continuous challenge

in oilseed rape breeding (Brassica napus

L.). In previous studies the old German

cultivar Sollux (S) has been crossed to the

Chinese cultivar Gaoyou (G) and a doubled

haploid (DH) population has been generat-

ed. Both Sollux and Gaoyou have high oil

contents. After field testing, SGDH14 has

been identified as having even higher oil

content and a combination of all positive

marker alleles from both parents. SGDH14

was then crossed to the German winter oil-

seed rape cultivar Express (E) and a new

DH population was developed. Repeated

field testing revealed SGEDH13 as one

of the lines with the highest oil content.

SGEDH13 was subsequently crossed to

the cultivar Adriana and a third DH popula-

tion consisting of 178 lines was generated

and tested in field experiments in three en-

vironments. Seed samples harvested from

10 open-pollinated plants per genotype

were bulked for the analysis of seed oil and

fibre content (NIRS) and for the analysis of

the fatty acid composition (GC). The phe-

notypic trait data generated will be used to

map QTL for oil content and other traits us-

ing a linkage map based on the Brassica

15K Illumina Infinium SNP array.

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Accounting for epistatic interaction in phenotype prediction across environmentsVojgani, Elaheh (1); Martini, Johannes W.R. (2); Simianer, Henner (1)

1: Center for Integrated Breeding Research, University of Goettingen, Germany; 2: KWS SAAT SE, Einbeck, Germany

In plant breeding, genetic prediction

across environments is of interest. It has

been shown (Martini et al. 2016) that in-

cluding epistatic interaction improves pre-

diction across environments. In order to

assess different options of variable selec-

tion we used a data set of 599 wheat lines

genotyped by DArT markers and records

on grain yield in four different environments

(Crossa et al. 2010). We analyzed one en-

vironment to infer subnetworks, and then

used these structures for genomic pre-

diction in the other environments. Subnet-

works were determined in each environ-

ment by considering the most important

pairwise SNP-interactions. Based on the

identified interactions we then calculated

epistatic relationship matrices and used

them for the genomic prediction of pheno-

types in the other environments. Our goal

was to compare the predictive ability based

on variable selection using the effect sizes

obtained by ridge regression (as in Martini

et al., 2016) to an approach based on an

epistatic GWAS (eGWAS) test.

We observed that with both methods

predictive ability in one environment is

improved by variable selection in anoth-

er environment if the phenotypes under

the different conditions are correlated.

While the increasing trend with eGWAS-

based selection is the same as with rrG-

BLUP-based selection of interactions,

the overall predictive ability is lower using

the eGWAS approach, especially if a high

proportion of epistatic interactions are ac-

counted for.

We also derived subnetworks by combin-

ing three environments and predicted the

fourth environment respectively, based on

eGWAS. This approach in general proved

to be robust in that predictive abilities were

at least as good as or better than obtained

by training the model with data of a sin-

gle environment only. Overall, the results

demonstrate that in phenotype prediction

across environments epistatic interactions

should be accounted for, and that refined

approaches of variable selection have a

potential to substantially improve such pre-

dictions further.

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Enhanced Sustainability in Organic Potato Production via Pre-Breeding for Late Blight ResistanceSprengel, Michael; Hammann, Thilo

Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for , Groß Lüsewitz, Germany

Sustainable potato production in organic

farming systems is limited by Phytophtho-

ra infestans (P.i.), the agent of late blight

and one of the most devasting pathogens

worldwide. In lieu of numerous applica-

tions of environmental anxious fungicides,

the disease could be managed by using

cultivars with high levels of quantitative,

race-nonspecific pathogen resistance,

which is considered more durable com-

pared to simply inherited resistance. In

the present study, we focused on the eval-

uation of quantitative resistance of new

pre-breeding clones. These clones were

produced during a research programme

for organic potato production in Germany

initiated by a network of organic farmers,

potato breeders, and research institutes.

A genome-wide association study (GWAS)

was conducted in order to identify genes

responsible for quantitative resistance

against late blight by a ‘Genotyping-by-Se-

quencing’(GBS) approach with “Diversity

Array Technology” (DArT)® markers.

The assessment of phenotypic foliage and

tuber resistance values was carried out

using four different methods of testing,

i.e. field experiments under organic and

conventional conditions, a detached-leaf

assay, a tuber-slice assay, and a whole-tu-

ber test. Infestation of potato tops with late

blight in the field was converted to relative

and maturity corrected resistance values

(rAUDPC and delta-rAUDPC).

Novel pre-breeding clones with reduced

maturity-corrected resistance values were

identified and some of them showed low

susceptibility against tuber blight in lab-

oratory tests as well. The application of

GWAS revealed significant marker-trait as-

sociations with rAUDPC and delta-rAUD-

PC values on different chromosomes.

The respective markers can be used for

marker-assisted selection. The pre-breed-

ing clones serve a potential resource in

the breeding of potato cultivars equipped

with quantitative late blight resistance and

may help to reduce the application of cop-

per-based fungicides in organic farming

systems.

The project is funded by BMEL in the frame

of the “Bundesprogramm Ökologischer

Landbau und andere Formen nachhaltiger

Landwirtschaft” (BÖLN).

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Identification and mapping of QTL for Zymoseptoria tritici resistance in wheatKarlstedt, Frances (1); Kopahnke, Doris (1); Perovic, Dragan (1); Pillen, Klaus (2); Ordon, Frank (1)

1: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Quedlinburg, Germany; 2: Martin-Luther- University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences

Zymoseptoria tritici, the causal agent of

Septoria tritici blotch (STB), causes yield

losses of up to 50% in wheat, globally.

Growing of resistant cultivars is the most

cost effective and environmentally friendly

way to avoid these losses. Zymoseptoria

tritici causing leaf blotch can be found

worldwide and has gained evident impor-

tance due to changes in wheat cultivation.

Therefore, there is a need to conducted

screening of gene bank accessions for re-

sistance, get information on the genetics

of resistance and develop molecular mark-

ers for the efficient deployment of new re-

sistances in wheat breeding.

In extensive screening programs for resis-

tance, the gene bank accession HTRI1410

turned out to be resistant in field tests and

to be a valuable source for improvement

of resistance to Zymoseptoria tritici. In

order to get information on the genetics

of the STB resistance in HTRI1410, a DH

population consisting of 135 lines derived

from crosses of HTRI1410 to three sus-

ceptible cultivars was generated. Artificial

inoculation in detached leaf assays was

conducted using three worldwide isolates

(IPO323, IPO98022 and IPO98050) and

the necrotic mean leaf area was deter-

mined. A quantitative variation for the reac-

tion to a Zymoseptoria infection was ob-

served and a significant genotypic effect

detected.

In parallel this population was genotyped

by the wheat 90k iSelect SNP chip. The

genotypic data were used for map con-

struction. About 6,100 SNPs turned out

to be polymorphic between the resistant

cultivar and the three susceptible cultivars.

Out of these, 1,118 SNPs mapped to the

A-genome, 1,326 SNPs mapped to the

B-genome and 267 SNPs to the D-ge-

nome. QTL analyses based on the de-

tached leaf assay data using IPO323 for

Zymoseptoria tritici resistance revealed

QTL on chromosomes 2A, 3A and 6A, for

IPO98022 QTL on 2A, 4A, 1B and 2B

and for IPO98050 QTL on 1A, 3A, 4A, 6A

and 5B.

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The relevance of dominance to genomic selection in breeding clonally propagated plant speciesWerner, Christian R (1); Gaynor, R Chris (1); Gregor, Gorjanc (1); Lillo, Alessandra (2); Sargent, Daniel J (2); Hick-ey, John M (1)

1: The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Research Centre, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK; 2: Driscoll’s Genetics Limited, East Malling Enterprise Centre, East Malling, ME19 6BJ, UK

Genomic selection (GS) has the potential

to fundamentally revolutionise breeding

for quantitative traits in plants. It can en-

able better use of resources in breeding

programs and increases in genetic gain

per unit time. We investigated three differ-

ent strategies to implement GS for a trait

representing yield in clonally propagated

plant species that exhibit diploid genome

structure or diploid-like recombination

during meiosis, such as a strawberry. Sto-

chastic simulations were used to evaluate

genetic gain, changes in genetic variance

and inbreeding over 40 years of breeding.

The simulated individuals were highly het-

erozygous, and different dominance coef-

ficients were applied in order to examine

the impact of non-additive genetic effects

on the accuracy of GS. The three scenar-

ios using GS were compared to a conven-

tional breeding program based solely on

phenotypic selection. Cost effectiveness

was analysed by constraining all scenarios

to approximately equal annual operating

costs. While our results clearly illustrate

the general efficiency of GS to significantly

increase genetic gain in clonally propagat-

ed cultivars, the potential of two of the GS

strategies to outperform the conventional

breeding program was highly dependent

on the ratio between dominance and addi-

tive genetic effect size.

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Genetics of Ascochyta blight in the Göttingen winter beans population: A detailed phenotyping for GWASFaridi, Rabia; Koopmann, Birger; Link, Wolfgang

George August University of Goettingen, Germany

Ascochyta blight is a common destructive

disease of faba bean, caused by the fun-

gus Ascochyta fabae. Weather is the prin-

cipal factor in taking disease risk to disease

severity. After conditions favorable for the

disease development, severe yield loss-

es were reported in susceptible cultivars

of faba beans. Ascochyta can efficiently

be controlled by genetic resistance. The

genetic improvement of this polygenetic

trait through conventional breeding is de-

manding and laborious, because of limited

heritability and frequent calamities with in-

appropriate infection levels in the field situ-

ation. The application of adequate molec-

ular markers is considered as an efficient

strategy to develop resistant cultivars. Sev-

eral sources of Ascochyta resistance have

already been used in breeding programs.

However, the QTLs and their alleles for re-

sistance and their genetic mode of action

are still not all identified and not exhaus-

tively described. A gene pyramiding ap-

proach would be helpful but relies on the

identification of markers at least closely

linked to the resistance genes. Such QTL

mapping heavily depends upon the accu-

racy of phenotypic data. So, a detailed

phenotyping of 224 pure faba beans lines

under controlled conditions is currently

performed for Ascochyta resistance. This

phenotypic data will then be used for a ge-

nome wide and candidate based associa-

tion study.

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Adjustment for Missing Plants in Sugar Beet Field TrialsStache, Anne-Marie (1,2); Möhring, Jens (2); Müller, Bettina (3); Piepho, Hans-Peter (2)

1: TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany 2: Institute for Crop Science, Biostatistics Unit, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany 3: Strube Research, Germany

It is assumed that the plot yield in sugar

beet (Beta vulgaris) yield trials is distorted

by missing plants. To avoid a discrimina-

tion of genotypes having less plants per

plot and to ensure correct selection deci-

sions a correction of the yield estimates is

intended, if the missing plants occur due to

non-genetical reasons. The correction of

the plot yields is problematic because the

neighbouring plants will use the addition-

al space and resources, provided by the

missing plant, for additional growth. Thus,

the neighbouring plants compensate for

a certain degree the yield of the missing

plant. The degree of compensation is un-

known and depends on several factors.

Correction formulae including a factor,

mirroring the degree of compensation,

have been developed. Since the degree

of compensation is unknown, respectively

is highly variable, it is not an acceptable

method to correct plot yields. A more suit-

able method, but rarely used, is the anal-

ysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Using an

ANCOVA makes it possible to include co-

variates describing the plant stand of the

plot and to use this information to calculate

corrected plot yields.

The aim of this study was to test, which

covariates should be used in the statistical

model to be able to calculate a corrected

plot yield. Covariates describing the plant

stand of the observed as well as of the

neighbouring plots were included. Results

showed that the missing plants have been

completely compensated by the neigh-

bouring plants. Apart from that, the results

showed also that the plant stand of the

neighbouring plot has an influence on the

plot yield of the observed plot. Conclud-

ing from these findings, a correction of the

plot yield due to missing plants is not nec-

essary because neighbouring plants can

compensate the yield, but a correction of

the plot yield could be necessary due to

inter-plot competition.

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Participatory potato breeding for organic farming – practical experience and future visionsSieber, Karen; Forster, Georg Michael; Kellermann, Adolf

Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture, Freising, Germany

The need for specially suited crop variet-

ies for organic farming has been widely

acknowled by farmers and scientists (Lam-

merts van Bueren 2010, Wilbois 2016).

For organic production of consumable

potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) varieties

should combine a high level of resistance

especially against pathogens and diseas-

es with the quality traits of conventionally

produced tubers. The most violent patho-

gen in potato production is late blight,

which is caused by the oomycete Phy-

tophthora infestans. In organic farming

the only eligible treatment are problematic

copper-based pesticides which can less-

en but not prevent the epidemic.

Breeding efforts have resulted in a small

number of cultivars with improved late

blight resistance. However, these still lack

quality traits like good taste, yellow flesh

and skin colour, and low eye depth which

are important to German consumers.

Moreover, they mostly do not meet agri-

cultural prerogatives like high yield, early

maturity or uniformity of tuber size and are

thus only of limited agricultural importance.

Since 2012 a joint project has been pro-

moted by the German Federal Ministry of

Food and Agriculture which set out to pro-

duce new potato breeding material for or-

ganic farming. Central aspect was the im-

plementation of a participatory approach

(participatory plant breeding (PPB)) under

organic farming conditions. In collabo-

ration with the Institute for Breeding Re-

search on Agricultural Crops of the Julius

Kühn-Institut (JKI) and the Institute for

Crop Science and Plant Breeding at the

Bavarian State Research Centre (LfL) two

farmers were instructed to select breed-

ing material on their organic farms on two

locations in Bavaria (Landsberg am Lech

and Neuburg an der Donau). We found

that although the work is time consuming

farmers are highly motivated. Moreover,

the project found high acceptance within

the organic farming community as it cre-

ates a long-awaited transparency within

the breeding process.

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Multiple to conquer: Simultaneous selection for grain yield and baking quality in geno-mics-assisted wheat breedingMichel, Sebastian (1); Löschenberger, Franziska (2); Ametz, Christian (2); Sparry, Ellen (3); Bürstmayr, Hermann (1)

1: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria; 2: Saatzucht Donau GesmbH. & CoKG; 3: C&M Seeds

Genomic selection has been implemented

in many national and international breed-

ing programs in recent years. Numerous

studies have shown the potential of this

new breeding tool, few have however tak-

ing the simultaneous selection for multiple

traits into account that is though common

practice in applied breeding programs.

The simultaneous improvement of grain

yield and baking quality is thereby a ma-

jor challenge in wheat breeding due to the

well-known negative trade-off. According-

ly, we investigated the potential and limits

of multi-trait selection for this particular

trait complex utilizing vast phenotypic and

genomic data collected in a commercial

wheat breeding program where genomic

selection is implemented since 2012.

The accuracy of across-year predictions

of both preliminary and multi-environment

trials could be significantly improved when

combining phenotypic and genomic in-

formation in a genomics-assisted selec-

tion approach, which surpassed both ge-

nomics-based and classical phenotypic

selection methods. Genomic predictions

for quality traits could furthermore be im-

proved when additionally considering tradi-

tional measurements for indirect selection

such as protein content and sedimentation

value from the head-row stage.

Using these enhanced genomics-as-

sisted breeding methods two strategies

were compared, which 1) aimed to select

high-quality genotypes with acceptable

yield potential, and 2) develop high-yield-

ing varieties, while maintaining baking

quality characteristics. Different genomic

selection indices were developed, where-

by protein quality related to loaf volume

and crumb structure was represented by

dough rheological parameters. Forward

prediction across years revealed that

twice the response to selection could be

achieved by genomics-assisted compared

to phenotypic selection with both breeding

strategies when considering protein yield

as target criterion. Simultaneous selection

for grain yield, protein content and protein

quality showed a lower trade-off between

grain yield and protein quality than protein

content suggesting that it is feasible to de-

velop varieties that combine superior yield

potential with comparably high end-use

quality, thus utilizing available nitrogen re-

sources more efficiently.

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Natural variation for Crossing-Over frequencies in Brassica napusBlary, Aurelien (1); Snowdon, Rob (2)

1: INRA, UMR1318, Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, RD10, F-78000 Versailles, France; 2: Department of Plant Breeding, IFZ Re-search Centre for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

Meiotic recombination is a crucial compo-

nent of evolution and breeding. Although

studies in Arabidopsis thaliana have pro-

vided important insights into the formation

of meiotic crossovers (COs) in plants, little

is known about the genes/mechanisms

responsible for natural variation in CO

rates, especially in polyploid crops. The

aim of this project is to analyze the extent

to which varies the meiotic recombination

landscape in the economic crop species

Brassica napus.

We used high-density genotyping (60K

Illumina InfiniumTM SNP array) to explore

natural variation in CO rates within a nest-

ed association mapping (NAM) population

obtained from 50 divergent founder ac-

cessions each crossed with a common

elite parent. After physical ordering of the

SNP markers using Darmor-bzh reference

genome sequence assembly, the position

of around 60000 recombination break-

points was inferred in ~2000 lines.

We observed a CO count per chromo-

some consistent with the physical size of

each chromosome (the CO density being

however much lower for the C genome).

Although some local differences were

seen, the recombination landscape in B.

napus appeared stable across the NAM

population, with a clear CO suppression in

centromeric and pericentromeric regions

and a good positive correlation with gene

density. Nonetheless, the regions that do

not recombine across the NAM population

encompass more than 2200 gene models

that could be of interest for the breeders.

This project will shed new light on the

pending cause of CO variation within plant

species, which is essential for genetics,

evolution and plant breeding.

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Development of fungal disease resistant peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) through Agro-bacterium-mediated genetic transformationHoque, M. Imdadul; Banu, Tanjina Akhter; Rahman, Iffat Ara; Islam, Tahmina; Sarker, Rakha Hari

UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA, Bangladesh, People’s Republic of

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is one of

the most economically important oilseed

and confectionary food items producing

crops of Bangladesh. Peanut production

in Bangladesh is hampered due to the in-

cidence of various fungal diseases. In the

present investigation attempts were made

to develop fungal disease resistant local

peanut varieties through Agrobacteri-

um-mediated genetic transformation. Prior

to Agrobacterium-mediated genetic trans-

formation, in vitro regeneration studies

were carried out using four different types

of explants, namely, immature leaflet, de-

capitated half embryo, de-embryonated

cotyledon and single cotyledon attached

decapitated embryo from three locally

grown peanut varieties, namely, Dhaka-1,

BARI Chinabadam-8 and Binachinabad-

am-4. Best multiple shoot regeneration

was obtained from de-embryonated coty-

ledon explants within 45 days of culture.

Maximum number of multiple shoots were

obtained from de-embryonated cotyledon

explants of Dhaka-1 on MSB medium sup-

plemented with 88.8 µM BAP followed by

culturing on MSB with 66.6 µM BAP. The

in vitro regenerated shoots were cultured

on shoot elongation medium (SEM) con-

taining MSB with 13.0 µM BAP. Best root

induction of all the varieties was obtained

on half strength of MS medium supple-

mented with either 2.5 µM or 5.0 µM IBA.

Transformation experiments were conduct-

ed using marker genes (GUS & NPT II) and

antifungal (afp) gene using three types of

explants, namely, immature leaflet, de-em-

bryonated cotyledon and single cotyledon

attached decapitated embryo of Dhaka-1

and BARI Chinabadam-8. Transient GUS

histo-chemical assay revealed that maxi-

mum transformation efficiency (86.66%)

was observed from de-embryonated coty-

ledon explants. Regenerated shoots were

cultured on 200 - 250 mg/l kanamycin

supplemented medium to select the trans-

formed shoots. In case of antifungal gene

construct (pCAMBIA2300enh35SAFP),

transformation frequency was 1.01% in

Dhaka-1 and 0.52% in BARI Chinabad-

am-8. A total 17 putatively transgenic

plants of Dhaka-1 were recovered which

was confirmed through PCR and Southern

blot analysis. T1 seeds were collected and

being raised for further investigation.

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Analysis of a candidate gene involved in Verticillium longisporum resistance in winter oilseed rape using a RNA guided CRISPR-Cas9 systemChakrabarty, Subhadra; Chawla, Harmeet; Obermeier, Christian; Snowdon, Rod

Justus Liebig University, Germany

Recently the CRISPR-Cas9 genome edit-

ing system has emerged as a tool for func-

tional genomics. It uses a 20 bp single

guided RNA sequence to direct the Cas9

protein for editing loci of interest. Com-

pared to other methods of genome edit-

ing, it is easy to program, relatively cheap

and simpler to implement.

The main aim of this study is to study Ver-

ticillium longisporum resistance in win-

ter oilseed rape. It is a soil borne fungal

pathogen invading the host through the

roots. The only available option for control

of the pathogen is breeding for resistant

cultivars.

We used Agrobacterium mediated deliv-

ery of a CRISPR-Cas9 construct to target

multiple copies of a gibberellic acid bio-

synthesis gene (GA4) to study the effects

on Verticillium resistance when knocking

down this gene. GA4 has been described

to be associated with stunting effects in

Arabidopsis mutants. Also CRISPR-Cas9

mutants for GA4 showed stunting in B. ol-

eracea and we used the same construct

(Lawrenson et al. 2015) in our studies for

knocking down GA4 gene copies in B. na-

pus.

There have been several studies associ-

ating Vertcillium infection to plant height

reduction and one of the copies of GA4

is a candidate gene located within a QTL

for Verticillium resistance in B. napus. We

have successfully produced putative T0

mutants for this gene in two different cul-

tivars of winter oilseed rape. Further char-

acterization of the targeted sequences and

Vertcillium screening of the mutants will be

performed in the near future. We also aim

at studying the specificity of the system

and the effects of the different mutations.

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Functional analysis and mutagenesis of GDSL genes for breeding oilseed rape (Brassi-ca napus) with higher oil contentKarunarathna, Nirosha L. (1); Wang, Haoyi (2); Harloff, Hans-Joachim (1); Jiang, Lixi (2); Jung, Christian (1)

1: Plant Breeding Institute, Kiel University, Germany; 2: College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

Seed Fatty Acid Reducer (SFAR) genes

belong to the GDSL lipases/esterases

family and their disruption leads to a seed

fatty acid increase in maturing seeds of

Arabidopsis thaliana (Chen et al. 2012).

In this project, we aim at the knock-out of

BnSFAR genes in rapeseed to increase its

seed oil content.

In rapeseed, we identified 12 homoeolo-

gous genes for the Arabidopsis SFAR1-

SFAR5 genes. Screening of an EMS mu-

tated winter rapeseed population revealed

nonsense and missense mutations for six

selected paralogs. They are combined to

produce double mutants, as pyramiding of

mutated bnsfar genes might increase the

seed oil content significantly. The CRIS-

PR/Cas9 system was employed to gen-

erate mutations in all 12 paralogs using a

common subfamily-specific target region.

Agrobacterium-mediated hypocotyl trans-

formation was used and the estimated

transformation efficiency is ~ 1.5%. InDel

mutations were found in all four paralogs

of BnSFAR4 in transgenic T2 plants. Oil

content and fatty acid composition will

be measured in the T3 seeds after having

fixed the genotypes in T2.

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Detection of genome-wide structural re-arrangements in Brassica napus using Optical MappingChawla, Harmeet Singh; Snowdon, Rod; Obermeier, Christian

Justus Liebig University, Germany

Next generation sequencing technologies

like Illumina sequencing relies on short

reads of a few hundred base pairs leading

to low power for detection of long-range

structural variations. Optical mapping us-

ing nano-channel arrays provides an alter-

native to classical sequencing approaches

for studying long-range genomic structural

variations in complex genomes like Brassi-

ca napus. It involves imaging of high-mo-

lecular weight fluorescently labelled DNA

molecules and creation of large restriction

maps represented as stretches of light and

dark regions (resembling a barcode) which

then can be aligned to an in-silico generat-

ed optical map of a reference assembly.

One of the key factors distinguishing this

approach from other technologies is that

the DNA molecules are not shredded in

small fragments during the entire process,

thus enabling the capture of long-range

genomic information stretching up to sev-

eral hundred kilo-bases. Using Illumina

resequencing of parents of mapping popu-

lations and genetic mapping using the 60K

Brassica SNP chip we identified putative

long-range structural re-arrangements as-

sociated with Verticillium longisporum

resistance in oilseed rape. For validation

we applied Optical Mapping for parents

of the mapping populations including two

resynthesized and two adapted Brassica

napus lines. In order to detect genom-

ic re-arrangements optical map assem-

blies of these four lines were compared

to the Darmor-bzh reference. Using this

approach we were able to confirm whole

chromosome C2 deletion, furthermore,

large range deletions were also identified

on chromosome C1 and A3 in parents of

the mapping population.These deletions

were further found to be associated with

susceptibility to Verticillium stem striping.

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Knock-out study of phytic acid synthesis genes in Brassica napusHarloff, Hans-Joachim; Sashidhar, Niharika; Jung, Christian


Phytic acid is the principal storage form of

phosphorus in seeds with levels ranging

from 2 to 4 % in B. napus. It is an antinu-

tritive compound for monogastric animals

due to their lack of phytase. Nine phytic

acid synthesis and transporter genes have

been identified in Arabidopsis and a re-

duction of phytic acid has been demon-

strated by gene knock-down.

In this study, we identified the rapeseed

key synthesis and transporter genes and

tried to knock them out by a TILLING and a

CRISPR/Cas9 approach. In silico analysis

resulted in 64 putative functional paralogs

of the genes BnMIPS, BnMIK, BnOslpa,

BnIPK, BnITPK, BnIPK2ß and BnMRP5.

After expression measurement, 12 paral-

ogs were selected for TILLING and result-

ed in 47 nonsense, 513 missense and 13

splice site mutations. In addition, 23 paral-

ogs were selected for CRISPR/Cas9 mu-

tagenesis, aiming at a complete knock-out

of each single candidate gene. We applied

an Agrobacterium mediated hypocotyl

transformation protocol with phosphino-

tricin selection. 122 shoots regenerated

from 5642 hypocotyl ends in all experi-

ments, resulting in an estimated average

transformation rate of 2.2 %. In the case

of BnITPK, we found gene editing in 4 out

of 6 targeted paralogs in the T1 genera-

tion and are currently growing T2 plants for

phenotyping.

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Efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of commercial maize lines with simp-le transgene integration patternRubtsova, Myroslava; Büchner, Heike; Hensel, Goetz; Rutten, Twan; Kumlehn, Jochen; Altmann, Thomas


Millions of people living in the tropical and

subtropical zones of the world are largely

dependent on corn for their subsistence.

Production, however, is feared to not keep

pace with the growing demand. Maize

(Zea mays) is not only the most important

crop in terms of productivity, but has also

become a monocot model plant for study-

ing genetics, genomics and molecular bi-

ology.

Within the last decade`s, particle bom-

bardment and Agrobacterium-mediated

transformation has been widely used for

introducing recombinant DNA into maize

for the purpose of basic research as well

as to generate transgenic plants for com-

mercial use. A negative side effect asso-

ciated with biolistic gene transfer is the

integration of multiple copies of the trans-

ferred DNA, which often causes inhibition

or loss of foreign gene expression.

To address this problem, we optimized the

method of Agrobacterium-mediated trans-

formation of maize inbred lines to achieve

transgenic plants regeneration at high ef-

ficiency and with typically low transgene

copy number. Both Hygromycin phospho-

transferase and Phosphinotricin phos-

photransferase genes under control of an

enhanced CaMV 35S promoter were con-

firmed as suitable selectable markers for

maize transformation. The GFP gene un-

der control of the constitutive maize UBIQ-

UITIN1 promoter was shown to be active in

various tissues of transgenic maize plants

of T0 to T

3 generations. This reporter gene

was thus confirmed as a rapid and conve-

nient indicator of transgenicity. In addition,

the occurrence of two major types of in-

direct morphogenesis from callus, namely

embryogenesis and organogenesis, was

investigated.

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Using CRISPR/Cas9 to induce targeted modifications of centromeric histone H3 (CENH3) in carrots (Daucus carota L.)Unkel, Katharina (1); Sprink, Thorben (2); Dunemann, Frank (1)

1: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Breeding Research on Horticultural Crops, Quedlinburg, Germany; 2: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Biosafety in Plant Biotechnology, Quedlinburg, Germany

Carrot (Daucus carota L.) is one of the

most important root vegetable crops grown

worldwide and has gained popularity in re-

cent decades due to increased awareness

of its nutritional value. We want to acceler-

ate the breeding of high quality carrot cul-

tivars, resistant to different pathogens and

with a high content of bioactive secondary

metabolites. The main breeding method of

carrot is F1 hybrid breeding. However, the

production of genetically homogeneous

parental lines through several subsequent

steps of inbreeding takes up a lot of time

and resources. We propose the RNA

guided endonucleases (RGEN) technique

CRISPR/Cas9 to modify the centromeric

histone H3 (CENH3) which is crucial for

the proper segregation of chromosomes

during cell division. In eudicots CENH3

consists of a highly conserved C-terminal

histone fold domain (HFD) and a N-termi-

nal tail which length and sequence varies

between species. Manipulation of CENH3

to provoke uniparental genome elimination

during early embryogenesis has been pro-

posed as a new plant breeding technique

(NPBT) for haploid induction. We target

different regions of the CENH3 sequence

and compare mutated lines in their expres-

sion and accumulation of CENH3 and their

function as putative haploid inducer lines.

The introduction of an expression cassette

for CRISPR/Cas9 by Agrobacterium-me-

diated plant transformation via Rhizobium

rhizogenes resulted in a high number of

transgenic hairy root lines. We therefore

screened hairy root lines for mutations

resulting from the non homologous end

joining (NHEJ) pathway in the target region

prior to somatic embryogenesis to identify

highly mutated lines. Changes in the ac-

cumulation of CENH3 were visualized by

staining with a specific antibody in cyto-

genetic studies. We found changes in the

geno- and phenotype of CENH3 in trans-

genic hairy root lines as well as in regener-

ated transgenic plants carrying a variety of

mutations in the targeted region inside of

the CENH3 sequence.

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Targeted breeding of rapeseed with a site-specific mutagenesis systemMatar, Sarah; Emrani, Nazgol; Melzer, Siegbert


Oilseed rape (Brassica napus) is a major

oil crop grown worldwide. Its allotetraploid

genome plays a great role in adaptation to

different environments and climatic con-

ditions involving differential regulation of

physiological parameters such as flower-

ing time.

Previous studies have identified a number

of genes involved in floral transition of api-

cal meristem in Arabidopsis thaliana, a

close relative to Brassica napus. To study

the effects of these genes on transition

from vegetative to reproductive phase,

we studied their expression pattern in the

apical meristems of rapeseed plants start-

ing from the first week until the last week

of vernalization. For further functional as-

sessment, a high throughput gene editing

in rapeseed based on CRISPR/Cas9 will

be established. However, editing rape-

seed genome is technically challenging

and based mainly on tissue culture that

is a laborious and time consuming. Floral

dip is a simpler Agrobacterium-mediated

transformation method, based on dipping

immature flowers of the plant that will sub-

sequently set seeds from which a minor

fraction might be transgenic. It is an effi-

cient and high throughput transformation

method in the model plant Arabidopsis,

but could not be established for crop

plants such as rapeseed. In an attempt to

establish a floral dip based transformation

method in rapeseed, we will study wheth-

er different immune responses that are in-

duced after agrobacterium infection might

constrain floral dip. In addition, we will try

to localize the expression of a GUS report-

er gene, which is either under the control

of a CaMV 35S or ubiquitin promoter, after

floral dipping.

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Efficient in vitro regeneration and agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation in tomatoAbdel-Salam, Eslam (1); Faisal, Mohammad (1); Alatar, Abdulrahman (1); Canto, Tomas (2)

1: Department of Botany & Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; 2: Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CIB, CSIC), Ramiro de Maeztu 9, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a

one of the most valuable cash crops in the

world considered as “poor man’s orange”,

because of having substantial quantities of

mineral and vitamins. In the present study

an efficient in vitro regeneration and agro-

bacterium-mediated genetic transforma-

tion system was developed for a tomato

cultivar Jamila. Different combinations of

plant growth regulators supplied in Mu-

rashige and Skoog (MS) medium were

assessed to optimize in vitro regenera-

tion from cotyledonary leaf (CL) explants

of tomato. Maximum shoot regeneration

frequency was obtained using CL explants

on MS medium augmented with BA (5.0

µm), IBA (2.5 µm) and kinetin (10.0 µm).

Furthermore, RNA interference approach

were taken to silence Acetylcholinester-

ase 1 (Ach1) gene of aphids for the de-

velopment of aphids’ resistance tomato

cultivar. Efficient agrobacterium-mediated

genetic transformation method was de-

velop using three plasmid construct viz.,

T449 containing single Ach1 fragment in

forward orientation, T452 containing two

Ach1 fragment in reverse and forward

orientations and T455 containing a sin-

gle inverted Ach1 fragment. The highest

frequency of transformation was achieved

with the construct T452. Regenerated

transgenic plantlets were rooted on half

MS medium with IBA (0.5 µM) and trans-

ferred to ex vitro conditions. Success of

transformation in regenerated plants con-

firmed by using polymerase chain reac-

tion and northern blot analysis and small

interfering RNAs (siRNA) were detected in

transgenic plants. Differential expression

of Ach1 gene in the aphids fed on trans-

genic plants was assessed.

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Establishment of durable Bymovirus-resistance in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) by genome engineeringHoffie, Robert Eric; Kumlehn, Jochen


The Barley Yellow Mosaic Disease, caused

by the bymoviruses Barley Yellow Mosaic

Virus (BaYMV) and Barley Mild Mosaic Vi-

rus (BaMMV), can lead to yield losses of

up to 50 % in winter barley production. In

autumn, young barley plants are infected

in their roots by the soil-borne fungus Poly-

myxa graminis which serves as viral vec-

tor. Upon viral establishment and systemic

spreading, yellow mosaics occur as first

symptoms on leaves. Later in plant devel-

opment, the disease leads to necrosis and

can end up in total loss of infected plants.

There is no possibility to directly control

the disease by chemical pesticides. Since

virus-infected fungal spores are reproduc-

tive for more than ten years, even crop ro-

tation is a minor option, too. That makes

resistance breeding the most important

opportunity to control Barley Yellow Mosa-

ic Disease.

Thanks to the rym4 and rym5 allelic vari-

ants of the Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 4E

(eIF4E) gene, more than two thirds of cur-

rent European winter barley cultivars are

resistant to BaYMV and BaMMV. However,

strain 2 of BaYMV has already overcome

rym4-resistance.

A promising new resistance mechanism

for European breeding programs is pro-

vided by rym11, which represents a loss-

of-function-allele of the Protein Disul-

fide-Isomerase-Like 5-1 (PDIL5-1) coding

gene. It was found in Asian landraces and

confers resistance to all known strains of

BaYMV and BaMMV.

We aim to use RNA-guided Cas endonu-

cleases for further functional analysis of

the described resistance genes rym4/

rym5 and rym11 by targeted mutagen-

esis as well as the generation of new re-

sistance alleles of the eIF4E and PDIL5-1

genes. Additionally, genocopying of resis-

tance alleles by targeted mutagenesis or

precise genome editing provides the op-

tion to directly establish durable bymovirus

resistance in barley elite material used in

European breeding programs.

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Molecular characterization of grain storage proteins in Hordeum speciesMakhoul, Manar (1); Alsalamah, Buthainah (2); Lawand, Salam (3); Azzam, Hassan (3)

1: Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany;; 2: National Commission for Biotechnology, Damascus, Syria; 3: Agricultural Fac-ulty, Damascus University, Syria

The major storage proteins (Hordein) in en-

dosperm of wild and cultivated barley were

analyzed to demonstrate the variation in

the Hordein polypeptides encoded by mul-

tigene families in grains. The SDS-PAGE

method revealed 37 different polypeptide

bands in 33 wild and cultivated genotypes.

Cluster analysis based on Hordein pat-

terns separated the Hordeum genotypes

according to their genome types, so that

all genotypes belonging to the species H.

vulgare, H. spontaneum and H. bulbo-

sum were included in one cluster, while

H. murinum and H. marinum genotypes

formed the other cluster.

In silico analysis of B-Hordein gene se-

quences showed that none of the cod-

ing regions were interrupted by an intron,

and all included the complete ORF. Com-

parison of their predicted polypeptide

sequences with published sequences

showed that they all share the same basic

protein structure. This suggests they share

a common ancestor (orthologous prolamin

family). In general, the highly homology of

B-Hordeins with LMW-GS indicates that it

has similar effects on baking quality.

Measurements of B-Hordein mRNA lev-

els using qRT-PCR, during five phases

of grain development in two H. vulgare

genotypes and two H. spontaneum gen-

otypes, showed that the transcripts of

B-Hordein genes in wild genotypes were

significantly higher than in cultivated forms

at 14 and 20 days after anthesis. These

findings demonstrate that the expression

of B-Hordein gene is influenced by time

and genotype.

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Creating new crop species through interspecific hybridisationKatche, Elvis Tembang; Mason, Annaliese

Justus-Liebig University, Germany

Variation is the starting point for plant

breeding and a fundamental requirement to

develop new and improved plant varieties.

However, this variation has been eroded in

some of our agriculturally significant crops

such as with oil seed rape. Interspecific hy-

bridization is a powerful evolutionary force

due to its potential to generate not just

novel phenotypic variation which could be

beneficial for agriculture, but also entirely

new species. We investigate interspecific

hybridization processes in the agricultural-

ly important genus Brassica. This genus

has a history of interspecific hybridization

and crop Brassica comprise a complex of

diploids and tetraploids sharing the A, B,

and C genomes with a common evolution-

ary history. We aim to not just understand

processes that lead to meiotic stabilization

and genome evolution in hybrid lineages

but also to use these processes to pro-

duce crops which could be of agricultural

importance. We produce tetraploid BBAC

hybrids (2n = 35) with the A and C sub ge-

nomes lacking their homologous pairing

partners by crossing the allotetraploids

Brassica juncea (AABB = 2n =36) and

Brassica carinata (BBCC = 2n = 34) and

self-pollinated for several generations to

see if genome restructuring between the

A and C genomes can cause these to be-

have as homologues and if these hybrids

can produce some new beneficial charac-

teristics. Results show that hybrids largely

maintain chromosome number up until the

S6 generation despite two of the chromo-

some lacking pairing partners. Molecular

cytogenetic analysis and high through-

put marker genotyping (in progress) will

give the exact chromosomal composition

of these hybrids. Transgressive variation

was observed in flowering time, and plant

growth characteristics while fertility and

meiotic stability was almost completely

restored by the S6 generation. Results

from this study provide evidence for a new

mode of hybrid speciation and suggest in-

teresting opportunities for future research

in agriculture and evolution.

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Genetic dissection of two QTLs conferring drought tolerance in wild emmer (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides)Deblieck, Mathieu (1); Fatiuha, Andrii (2); Szilagyi, Gergely (5); Barak, Vered (3); Saranga, Yehoshua (3); Krug-man, Tamar (2); Fahima, Tzion (2); Perovic, Dragan (1); Pillen, Klaus (4); Ordon, Frank (1)

1: Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Quedlinburg, Germany 2: University of Haifa, Institute of Evolution, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, 3498838 Haifa, Israel; 3: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, POB 12, 76100 Rehovot, Israel; 4: Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Halle, Germany; 5: University of Debrecen, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, Institute of Crop Science, Böszörményi út 138, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary

The genetic diversity concerning genes

responsible for tolerance to drought or

other abiotic and biotic stresses has been

depleted due to domestication and mod-

ern wheat breeding. Wild relatives are a

valuable source for improving drought tol-

erance in domesticated wheat. In previous

work, QTL regions conferring drought tol-

erance in wild emmer (Triticum turgidum

ssp. dicoccoides) have been identified

on chromosomes 2BS and 7AS and were

transferred into elite wheat cultivars. These

near isogenic lines were shown to be more

tolerant to drought than their recurrent

parents but seem to suffer from linkage

drag. Studies were conducted to narrow

down the size of these QTL-regions. For

that purpose, 151 F7 plants of the original

F6 mapping population were genotyped

with the 15k i-Select chip, a high-density

map with 4118 polymorphic markers was

constructed and validation of both QTL-re-

gions was conducted. Intervals of 15.67

and 26.02 cM of the QTL-regions on chro-

mosome 2BS and 7AS were selected for

fine mapping and segmental recombinant

inbred line (RIL)-populations were estab-

lished for each QTL-region. Heterozygous

F2 -plants showing recombination events

scattered along the targeted intervals were

selected and homozygous recombinant F3

progenies of these plants were used for

seed multiplication. Finally, the respective

F4 progenies were grown in the field under

water-limited and well-watered conditions.

The QTLs on chromosome 2BS and 7AS

could be narrowed down to intervals of

3-4 cM. or 13.7 and 1.1 Mio bp. They har-

bor about 156 and 43 genes respectively.

Segmental RILs showing recombination

events within these regions are currently

subjected to genotyping by sequencing to

identify additional recombination events to

further narrow down the QTL-fragments.

Future research will focus on the identifi-

cation and characterization of candidate

genes within these QTL-regions.

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GENETICAL ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE CELL WALL FORMATION AND COMPOSITION BY MEANS OF THE BARLEY NESTED ASSOCIATION MAPPING POPULATION HEB 25Zahn, Sebastian (1); Seiffert, Udo (2); Pillen, Klaus (1)

1: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany; 2: Fraunhofer-Institut IFF Magdeburg

Barley straw is an abundant by-product of

agricultural production. Annually, approx-

imately 6.5 million tons of barley straw

are produced in Germany. The main com-

ponent of barley straw is lignocellulose

(88.3%), which is composed of cellulose

(42.6%), hemicellulose (39.5%) and lig-

nin (17.9%, Sun et al. 2005). Due to the

large number of potential applications and

the huge amount of the annually produced

barley straw lignocellulose could be a valu-

able resource in bioeconomy.

Cereal wild species have a particular high

amount of straw and include a high vari-

ability in their straw composition. The mul-

tiparental wild barley population HEB-25

(Halle Exotic Barley, Maurer et al. 2015)

was originally developed to identify new

genes improving yield, quality, pathogen

resistance and environmental stress tol-

erance. In this project, HEB-25 will be

used to study the genetic regulation of cell

wall formation. In addition, HEB-25 will be

used to locate genes enhancing valuable

cell wall components and to transfer those

into barley elite cultivars. With those geno-

types a model project for the profitability of

the barley straw usage will be performed.

Leaf and peduncle samples, taken during

the season 2017 from HEB-25 lines at

four growths stages, are available for anal-

ysis. Ten percent of the barley lines will

be subjected to wet-chemical analysis. In

addition, all samples will be subjected to

hyperspectral imaging. Subsequently, the

analyses of lignin, hemicellulose and cel-

lulose content will be extrapolated based

on hyperspectral modelling to achieve a

full HEB-25 dataset. The hyperspectral

measurement was performed twice. First

with the field-based AgRover system just

before harvesting of tissue samples and

secondly with a lab setup just before grind-

ing the samples. Finally, genomic regions

controlling lignocellulose content and

composition will be analysed by means of

genome-wide association studies (GWAS).

First results regarding the mapping of loci

controlling cell wall composition will be

presented.

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Core Collection Formation Based on Environmental and Genotypic Data for Central European Soybean BreedingHaupt, Max; Schmid, Karl

University of Hohenheim, Institute for Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, Stuttgart Gemany;

Soybean is an emerging crop in Central

Europe (CEU) but is still considered to lack

some vital environmental adaptation to this

new habitat. Beneficial variation facilitating

its cultivation in this relatively cool and high

latitude environment is presumed to exist

in ex situ collections.

We present the formation of a core col-

lection (CC) of the USDA germplasm col-

lection for CEU soybean breeding based

on environmental and genotypic data with

the goal of maximising the potential adap-

tation of the included accessions to CEU:

The first level of stratification consists in

comparing the environmental profile char-

acterizing this new target population of en-

vironments (TPE) with the environmental

profiles of georeferenced collection sites

of germplasm from the soybeans natural

range in Asia. Only accessions matching

the TPE are considered for the further

CC formation in order to guarantee a high

level of potential adaptation to CEU envi-

ronments. The selected subset is further

processed into cores of varying popula-

tion size by maximising genetic distance

between entries. The success of the CC

formation is evaluated based on the reten-

tion of genotypic and phenotypic diversity

in the cores compared to the subset fitting

the TPE, as well as compared to the com-

plete collection.

The value of the presented CC(s) above

alternative scenarios consists in the high

level of potential environmental adaptation

and the phenotypic evaluability in CEU en-

vironments achieved by the stratification

based on the former as selection and ad-

aptation that might already have occurred

at the origin of material for centuries is ex-

ploited. In this sense we present the first

systematic evaluation of soybean ex situ

germplasm for CEU based on a combi-

nation of publicly available data, providing

diverse soybean germplasm that is ready

to be screened for traits of interest and cir-

cumvents problems common in soybean

like potentially ill-adapted material not ma-

turing in experiments.

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Phenotyping – a toolbox for plant breedingJansen, Marcus

LemnaTec GmbH, Germany

Plant breeding aims at making plants suit-

able for human use and there are broad

application ranges where plants serve hu-

man demand, from nutrition over materials

and chemicals towards bio-energy. Con-

stant improvements of plants at multiple

levels deliver advanced genomic material

that produces optimised phenotypes hav-

ing enhanced quality and quantity corre-

sponding to the intended use of the plant.

This might be larger growth, more grains,

better germination, but also surface co-

lours or chemical composition of fruits.

Moreover, enhanced use of resources

such as water and fertiliser together with

resistance to abiotic and biotic stress

factors are major goals in plant improve-

ment. All those phenotypic properties and

changes can be dynamically measured

with technologies that use non-invasive

sensors together with advanced data pro-

cessing. Thus, technologies give access

to numerical data on phenotypic proper-

ties.

Camera-assisted growth studies provide

data on plant performance and resource

use and give insight how plants respond

to environmental factors. Computer-vision

based quality tests deliver data describ-

ing fruit or grain properties, disease oc-

currence or plant morphology. Spectral

imaging together with machine learning

provides insight in occurrence of pigments

and other chemical compounds or allows

pre-symptomatic stress detection. Appli-

cation examples demonstrate how such

technology addresses issues of plant rat-

ing that is required to verify success in

breeding.

LemnaTec has developed a broad range

of technology suitable for such tasks,

ranging from manually operated bench-

top phenotyping setups to fully automat-

ed greenhouse or outdoor phenotyping

installations equipped with multiple cam-

era types. Together with Forschungszen-

trum Jülich, LemnaTec is commercialising

state-of-the art root phenotyping technolo-

gy that enables access to dimensions and

architecture of root systems. LemnaTec

recently has developed a computer-vi-

son seed germination test that addresses

the demand of seed breeders and gene

banks. For seeds on moist paper, the test

measures timing and percentage of ger-

mination together with seed and seedling

morphological parameters.

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Genetic diversity of climbing beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) for mixed cropping with maize as new fodder for ruminantsStarke, Mathias; Kellner, Matthias; Becker, Heiko

University of Göttingen, Germany

Maize silage is of paramount importance

as valuable fodder for ruminants. Howev-

er, the intensive cultivation of maize can

also be regarded as problematic for sus-

tainable agriculture. An interesting alterna-

tive to sole cropping of maize is its mixed

cropping together with climbing beans

(Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Without losing

the high yield potential of maize, the biodi-

versity in agricultural landscapes as well as

soil fertility could be enhanced. Addition-

ally the protein content of the silage could

also be increased potentially resulting in

a reduced demand for soybean imports

from South America.

Therefore climbing bean varieties, which

meet a range of new traits to adapt to si-

lage production in a mixed cropping sys-

tem, are needed. These traits are a small

thousand-kernel weight, a satisfying ger-

mination under suboptimal temperatures,

a resistance to slight frost nights in an early

growing stage, a late ripening, a high bio-

mass yield potential at the end of the veg-

etation period of maize and a low content

of the anti-nutritive compound phytohem-

agglutinin (PHA).

To find suitable varieties a diverse panel

of around 180 climbing bean accessions,

provided by the Genebank of the IPK

Gatersleben, will be evaluated according

to the mentioned traits during the season

2017. Additionally, these accessions are

genotyped with the BARCBean6K_3 Chip

consisting of 5398 SNPs. A Genome Wide

Association Study (GWAS) will then be car-

ried out to find QTLs associated with each

trait, respectively. First results of GWAS for

the trait resistance to slight frost tempera-

tures will be presented exemplarily.

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Representing allelic diversity of maize landraces by libraries of doubled-haploid linesMayer, Manfred (1); Presterl, Thomas (2); Milena, Ouzunova (2); Eva, Bauer (1); Chris-Carolin, Schoen (1)

1: TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany 2: Maize Breeding, KWS SAAT SE, Germany

Maize landraces can be considered as

“gold reserve” of allelic variation, but effi-

cient strategies for exploring their ample

diversity are lacking. The successful use

of landraces for improvement of elite ger-

mplasm is mainly hampered by their het-

erogeneous and heterozygous nature and

genetic load. With the objective of mak-

ing the diversity of landraces amenable to

crop improvement, we constructed librar-

ies of doubled-haploid (DH) lines derived

from three pre-selected European maize

landraces. These unique sets of fully ho-

mozygous immortal genetic units enable

high precision phenotyping over multiple

environments and years. Unambiguous

gametic phases of DH lines facilitate their

comprehensive genomic characterization.

We investigate if the DH libraries reflect the

allelic inventory of the original landraces or

if differences can be detected due to po-

tential selection during the DH production

process. Using 600k genetic markers,

we compare genome-wide summary sta-

tistics of molecular variance and linkage

disequilibrium as well as allele frequency

distributions between 1000 DH lines and

300 S0 plants originating from the same

landraces. Using single marker genotype

as well as haplotype based approaches,

we screen the DH and S0 populations for

allele frequency differences over extended

linked sites. Comparing potential patterns

of selection across the three landraces un-

der study, we investigate if the process of

DH production leads to systematic selec-

tion in specific genomic regions and/or of

specific haplotype variants. Our findings

will shed light on the nature of genetic load

and the effects of inbreeding when utilizing

landraces for germplasm improvement.

This project was funded by the German

Ministry of Education and Research

(BMBF; Grant ID 031B0195).

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Analyses of Wheat dwarf virus (WDV) resistance/tolerance in barleyTrebing, Sarah; Habekuß, Antje; Ordon, Frank


Wheat dwarf virus (WDV) causes high

yield losses in barley and wheat. WDV is

transmitted by the leafhopper Psammotet-

tix alienus. Symptoms include yellowing

and result in most cases in dieback of the

infected plants. Due to global warming, in-

sect-transmitted viruses will become more

important in the future. Growing resistant/

tolerant varieties is the most effective and

environmentally friendly way to control this

disease. However up to now, little is known

about genotypic differences concerning

resistance/tolerance to WDV. Therefore,

our project aims at the identification of

resistant/tolerant genotypes to WDV by

screening the primary gene pool of barley

and to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) by

genome wide association studies (GWAS).

In 2016/2017, a set of 260 barley acces-

sions was tested by artificial infection in

gauze houses and in greenhouse tests us-

ing virus bearing leafhoppers. Genotypic

differences in the reaction to WDV were

observed. Since September 2017 the

most promising barley accessions and ad-

ditional 250 accessions selected from dif-

ferent gene banks have been re-/tested.

On the basis of these phenotypic results

a subset of 260 resistant/tolerant and

susceptible barley accessions will be se-

lected and genotyped by the 50k iSelect

chip. The identification of QTL for WDV

resistance and the development of molec-

ular markers are essential to replace the

laborious and time consuming resistance

tests with virus-bearing leafhoppers. This

will facilitate the integration of breeding

for WDV resistance/tolerance into applied

barley breeding.

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Breeding success in German winter wheat - Advances and new requirementsSchumann, Henrik; Léon, Jens


In the period under review (1966-2013)

the German wheat yield increased from 30

to 80 dt/ha. From 2000 on the yields were

stagnating somehow and the fluctuations

became higher. The study´s objective was

to visualize how plant breeding changed

wheat over the years and to discuss which

traits could contribute to transport breed-

ing success also in wheat production un-

der changed agricultural conditions.

We phenotyped 12 high yielding winter

wheat varieties inclusive hybrids from re-

lease years 1966-2013 and looked for sig-

nificant differences and regression slopes

among 28 plant traits. In a randomized

block design at the agricultural experimen-

tal Campus Klein-Altendorf near Bonn,

Germany, the varieties were grown 2015-

2017 on a good soil, with 130 kg/ha ni-

trogen, moderate plant protection and no

growth regulators and the traits were mon-

itored 3 to 1 years mainly around flowering

time.

Especially the traits from the fields mor-

phology, leaf apparatus and leaf health and

vitality showed breeding effects and let de-

rive a higher plant efficiency for the newer

varieties especially in the competition peri-

od from BBCH 31-69. This enabled them

to better utilize the supplied and absorbed

resource factors and to increase the re-

sulting number of kernels per ear (slope

0.27), which was the main driver for the

constantly increasing yield over the years

(slope 0.51).

Most of the traits from the fields roots,

dry matter and leaf physiology showed no

clear breeding effects, but in some cases

clear variation, which make them usable

for breeding in direction to a better water

and nutrient use efficiency. At those traits

with no significant differences technical

and methodical aspects were discussed

to also integrate them onto the way to more

adaptation to climate change and produc-

tion with lower input.

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Breeding innovations in wheat for resilient cropping systems: Nitrogen Use Efficiency and Drought ToleranceKoua, Patrice Ahossi


Water deficit is the major abiotic stress fac-

tor limiting agricultural production in arid,

semi-arid as well as temperate regions

around the world whereas nitrogen one of

the most important nutrients. Water deficit

accounts for approximately 70% potential

yield loss worldwide. It is of great impor-

tance to assure high yield and quality com-

ponents of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) by

breeding innovation taking into consider-

ation the actual environmental constraints.

The objective of the study is to determine

the behavior of the different wheat geno-

types under these conditions and deter-

mine correlations between allelic variation

and environment and cropping systems.

For that, 220 winter wheat German variet-

ies from the last fifty years are tested un-

der three different managements systems

varying in level of intensity of nitrogen sup-

ply and chemical plant protection (“low-in-

put”, “semi intensive” and “intensive”).

These varieties are also tested under

drought stress condition. The field exper-

iments are set at the experimental station

of Bonn University, Campus Klein-Alten-

dorf. Several morphological and physio-

logical traits on shoot system and function

are measured. The cultivars have been

genotyped by SNP marker. Genome wide

association mapping approach (GWAS)

is used to identify genomic regions and

candidate genes involved in breeding in-

novations and their interplay with the man-

agement systems and the environment are

quantified.

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Winter hardiness as breeding aim for oilseed rape cultivation under changing climatic conditionsRichter, Jan-Christoph; Möllers, Christian


Despite climate warming, extreme weather

conditions may occur in some years that

dramatically affect seed yield of winter

oilseed rape (Bassica napus L.) Abiotic

stress tolerance, particularly frost toler-

ance, remains an important breeding aim.

Frost periods without snow cover and tem-

peratures below -15 °C during otherwise

mild winters as in 2012 and partly in 2016

have led to winterkill in central Europe. The

aim of this study was to assess the genet-

ic variation and inheritance of winter har-

diness in a genetically diverse set of 312

winter oilseed rape genotypes. The plant

material was phenotyped for winter surviv-

al in field experiments in Poland, Ukraine

and Finland. It was characterized for mor-

phological traits before and after winter

as well as for vernalization requirement in

spring sown field trials and greenhouse

trials in Germany. Results showed signif-

icant differences in winter survival, stem

elongation before winter and vernalization

requirement. Vernalization requirement as

assessed in greenhouse trials was closely

negatively correlated with stem elongation

in spring sown experiments (rS = 0.75**).

The remaining trait correlations were sig-

nificant but weak (rS

= -0.34** to 0.38**),

indicating that genotypes with a reduced

stem elongation before winter and good

winter survival but nevertheless with an op-

timal shoot development in spring may be

selected. Genome wide association map-

ping was performed for the above traits

using marker data from the Brassica 60K

Illumina Infinium SNP array.

Financial support of the BMEL (FKZ

22406012), through FNR e.V., and of the

oilseed rape breeders of the GFPi e.V., es-

pecially DSV AG, KWS Saat SE, Limagrain

GmbH and NPZ Lembke KG for perform-

ing field trials, is acknowledged.

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Creating a new Crop – collection and genetic evaluation of Silphium perfoliatum L.Wever, Christian (1); Becker, Lukas (1); Höller, Martin (2); Pude, Ralf (2); Westhoff, Peter (1); Pestsova, Elena (1)

1: Developmental and Molecular Biology of Plants, Heinrich-Heine University, Duesseldorf; 2: INRES – Renewable Raw Materi-

als, Friedrich-Wilhelms-University, Bonn

Today plant biomass production is mainly

done by silage maize. To solve the well-

known problem of the massive maize

monocultures we have to reconsider our

strategy for bioenergy production mainly

through the use of non-food crops. The

cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.) is like

sunflower a member of the Asteraceae

and native to the US. Due to its high bio-

mass yield, Silphium represents a promis-

ing alternative for maize. S. perfoliatum is a

perennial plant with a broad range of eco-

logical benefits: a long flowering period,

bee-friendly, an efficient growing under

low-input agriculture, less weed killers and

soil erosion. Growing this wild perennial as

a crop will lead to an innovative more sus-

tainable plant biomass production. Howev-

er Silphium is still nearly a wild plant with

several challenges for agriculture.

Until today almost no breeding attempts

have been made for domestication of the

cup plant and all field trials were done with

the few available European genotypes of

unknown origin. For estimation of the ge-

netic relationships between these gen-

otypes a selected part of the European

genepool was analysed via tunable Geno-

typing By Sequencing (tGBS) technology

(Data2Bio®). The data showed that most

of the examined accessions share com-

mon alleles and only one clear pattern of

population stratification was detected. To

ensure sufficient germplasm diversity for

future crop improvement, a plant hunting

trip to the US was performed. Based on

herbarium data, 40 accessions cover-

ing almost the whole native distribution

of Silphium were collected. Multiple mor-

phological traits that we have never seen

before within the European material were

discovered. Currently the new accessions

are compared with the European ones at

two levels, genetically via tGBS and phe-

notypically via field trials. Based on these

data it will be possible to evaluate the

best genotypes and traits for creating a

new sustainable and competitive Silphium

crop.

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A Whole Genome Assembly of Rye (Secale cereale)Rabanus-Wallace, Mark Timothy


Cereal crop genomes can be notorious-

ly difficult to assemble, owing to their

immense size and complexity. While ref-

erence quality assemblies were recently

produced for barley and wheat, the third

Triticeae crop species, rye (Secale ce-

reale), is still lagging behind. This can

be attributed partly to its comparatively

lower economic value, and partly to the

highly complex and heterozygous nature

of the rye genome, a consequence of its

outcrossing and self-incompatible nature

which make assembly particularly chal-

lenging.

Because of its superiour pest resistance

and abiotic stress tolerance, rye has been

used repeatedly for wide introgressions

through translocation of chromosome

arms into the wheat genome. Reference

quality genome sequencing of rye will pro-

vide an essential basis for studying in de-

tail the specific aspects of rye‘s biology in

comparison to other Triticeae crops, and

will immediately contribute knowledge to

wheat crop improvement. Significant ad-

vances in rye genome sequencing have

been made by combining a wide variety

of genetic / genomic resources—and it is

by continually expanding this arsenal of re-

sources to include cutting edge technolo-

gies that will finally allow us to produce a

reference quality genome.

The talk will cover major advances and in-

novations so far, and describe how state-

of-the-art methods such as chromosome

conformation capture sequencing (Hi-C),

10X Chromium molecule-linked reads,

PopSeq genetic mapping, and chromo-

some survey sequencing (CSS) data are

being leveraged to produce and validate

a new whole genome shotgun short-read-

based de novo assembly, based on the

popular DeNovoMAGIC pipeline (NRGene

Ltd.), as part of a collaboration between

18 institutes, universities and private com-

panies

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proWeizen – the German Wheat Research and Breeding AllianceGerjets, Tanja

German Federation for Plant Innovation (GFPi), proWeizen Alliance, Kaufmannstr. 71, 53115 Bonn, Germany

Wheat is one of the most important crops

and Germany is an important wheat pro-

ducer. In Germany, 16 breeding com-

panies are running independent wheat

breeding programmes.

The German Wheat Research and Breed-

ing Alliance was founded in 2012 by the

German wheat breeders to combine the

scientific excellence in wheat research

and breeding expertise in Germany. As a

public-private partnership, the proWeizen

alliance acts to foster wheat breeding and

research on a national and international

level as well as a platform for communica-

tion and coordination. The proWeizen plat-

form (www.proweizen.de) is equally open

to scientists and companies working in

wheat breeding and research.

Currently, 14 research projects, funded

by the German Federal Ministry of Food

and Agriculture (BMEL) as well as the Ger-

man Federal Ministry of Education and

Research (BMBF), are run within the pro-

Weizen alliance and focus on breeding for

yield increase and stability, better adapta-

tion to environmental stresses and utiliza-

tion of heterosis. In these projects, Ger-

man universities and research institutes

are working in close collaboration with

wheat breeders who are vital partners and

plan to implement project results in their

future breeding programmes.

In addition to support in project manage-

ment and coordination, proWeizen liases

with wheat researchers and breeders and

participates in wheat research and breed-

ing on national and international levels, re-

spectively. proWeizen also helps with mo-

bilizing funding opportunities and to gain

public interest and awareness of wheat

research and breeding.

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146

IndexAAbbadi, Amine 89Abdel-Salam, Eslam 129Acosta, Ivan F. 23Acosta, Ivan Felipe 97Afanasenko, Olga 81, 88Al-Abdallat, Ayed 98Alatar, Abdulrahman 129Alomari, Dalia Zakaria 59Alqudah, Ahmad Mohamed 86Alsalamah, Buthainah 131Altmann, Thomas 38, 89, 91, 126Altmüller, Janine 16Altrogge, Lena 107Amanda, Dhika 23Ametz, Christian 118Anisimova, Anna 88Arabia, Shatil 58Artemyeva, Anna M. 51Azzam, Hassan 131

BBackhaus, Andreas 72Baier, Steffen 35Balcke, Gerd 67Baldauf, Jutta 107Ballvora, Agim 82, 109Banu, Tanjina Akhter 121Barak, Vered 133Baturaygil, Ali 93Bauer, Eva 54Baum, Michael 98, 109Becker, Christian 16Becker, Daniel 51Becker, Heiko 137Becker, Lukas 143Begemann, Frank 13Bemm, Felix Mathias 52, 84Bennewitz, Stefan 67Bernhard, Timm 106Beukert, Ulrike 47Blary, Aurelien 120Börner, Andreas 45, 50, 53, 56, 96, 103Böttcher, Christoph 51Boussora, Faiza Rachid 53Brauch, Dominic 48, 72Brauner, Pedro C. 54Bräutigam, Andrea 89Breidenbach, Caroline 90Breuer, Frank 62Brisset, Anne-Laure 74Büchner, Heike 126Buckler, Ed 40Buerstmayr, Hermann 19, 74Buerstmayr, Maria 19Bull, Hazel 85

Bürstmayr, Hermann 118Büttner, Bianca 46

CCanto, Tomas 129Chakrabarty, Subhadra 122Chan-In, Phukjira 43Chawla, Harmeet 122Chawla, Harmeet Singh 124Chen, Tsu-Wei 100Chen, Wanxin 80Chris-Carolin, Schoen 138Christou, Paul 33Chu, Jianting 38Collenberg, Max 52Cöster, Hilmar 77, 95

DDangl, Jeff 84Debener, Thomas 102Deblieck, Mathieu 133Dehmer, Klaus J. 49De Keyser, Ellen 44Delourme, Régine 62De Riek, Jan 44Devi, Micha G. 67Dhanagond, Sidram 78Diekmann, Kerstin 49Dieterich, Regine 96Dobermann, Achim 20Draicchio, Fulvia 85Duerr, Simon 74Dunemann, Frank 127Dyrszka, Emmanuelle 62

EEbmeyer, Erhard 77, 95Ecke, Wolfgang 73Eder, Joachim 46Eglinton, Jason 98Emrani, Nazgol 24, 128Eva, Bauer 138

FFahima, Tzion 133Faisal, Mohammad 129Faridi, Rabia 115Fatiuha, Andrii 133Faure, Sébastien 62Fazlikhani, Leila 65Fedak, George 90Flavell, Andrew J. 85, 98Forster, Georg 55Forster, Georg Michael 117Friedt, Wolfgang 94, 106Frisch, Matthias 27Furzer, Oliver 84

G

Gäbelein, Roman 104Gabur, Iulian 62Gaebelein, Roman 32Ganal, Martin W. 57Gaynor, R Chris 114Gellan, Stefanie 46Gemmer, Mathias 63Gerjets, Tanja 77, 95Geyer, Manuel 42Ghosh, Ajit 58Goßmann, Gina Capistano 71Goudemand, Ellen 74Grandke, Fabian 89Graner, Andreas 66, 68, 78, 86Gregor, Gorjanc 114Grieco, Michele 68Grosse, Ivo 24Gudi, Gennadi 51Guo, Yuan 24

HHaas, Manuela 39Habekuß, Antje 70, 83, 87, 139Hammann, Thilo 112Hanson, Peter 67Harloff, Hans-Joachim 123, 125Hatzig, Sarah 69Haupt, Max 135Hedley, Pete 80Hensel, Goetz 126Hensel, Götz 35Herdlitschke, Anja 73Heuberger, Heidi 51Heuermann, Marc 38Hickey, John M 114Hiekel, Stefan 35Hilbert, Jean-Louis 74Himmelbach, Axel 42, 50, 89, 103Hincha, Dirk 39Hochholdinger, Frank 107, 108Hoelker, Armin C. 54Hoffie, Robert Eric 130Höller, Martin 143Hoque, M. Imdadul 121Houasli, Chafika 44

IIdrissi, Omar 44Ihien, Elizabeth Omonefe 64Islam, Tahmina 58, 121

JJamjod, Sansanee 43, 101Jansen, Gisela 96Jansen, Marcus 136Jedrusik, Nicole 24Jestin, Christophe 62Jiang, Lixi 123Jung, Christian 24, 34, 71, 123, 125Junker, Astrid 38

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Junker, Björn 63

KKale, Sandip Mallikarjun 50Karam, Mohamed Anwar 86Karlstedt, Frances 113Karunarathna, Nirosha L. 123Kästner, Ute 51Katche, Elvis Tembang 132Kazman, Ebrahim 77, 95Kellermann, Adolf 55, 117Kellner, Matthias 137Kempf, Hubert 77, 95Khan, Muhammad Munem 73Khumto, Saran 101Kilian, Benjamin 66, 78Kittler, Johannes 51Klages, Nils 99Klück, Hans-Christian 72Klukas, Christian 38Knoch, Dominic 38, 89Köhl, Karin Iris 39König, Janine 81Koopmann, Birger 115Kopahnke, Doris 65, 81, 113Kopanke, Doris 88Kopka, Joachim 39Korzun, Viktor 70, 83Koua, Patrice Ahossi 141Krähmer, Andrea 51Krämer, Ilona 90Kretsch, Julia 70Krüger, Hans 51Krugman, Tamar 133Kubica, Christian 52Kumlehn, Jochen 35, 126, 130

LLawand, Salam 131Le Bihan, Zoe 74Lemmens, Marc 19Lemnian, Ioana 24Léon, Jens 82, 109, 140Lichthardt, Carolin 100Lillo, Alessandra 114Linde, Marcus 102Link, Wolfgang 61, 92, 115Lisker, Antonia 77, 95Lithio, Andrew 107Liu, Fang 75Lohwasser, Ulrike 51, 96Lorenz, Hartl 42Löschenberger, Franziska 118Luthard, Lisa 90

MMakhoul, Manar 131March, Timothy J. 98

Marcon, Caroline 107Marthe, Frank 51Martini, Johannes W.R. 111Martsch, Regina 92Mascher, Martin 50, 103Mason, Annaliese 104, 132Mason, Annaliese S. 64Mason, Annaliese Sarah 32Matar, Sarah 128Maurer, Andreas 28, 85, 95, 98Mayer, Manfred 54, 138McCouch, Susan 12Melchinger, Albrecht E. 27, 30, 54Melzer, Siegbert 71, 128Meyer, Rhonda C 91Meyer, Rhonda C. 38, 89Michel, Sebastian 19, 118Milena, Ouzunova 138Milne, Linda 85Mock, Hans-Peter 48, 72Möhring, Jens 116Molina, Carlos 24Möllers, Christian 99, 110, 142Monteiro, Freddy 84Moreno Amores, Jose 19Moursi, Yasser Shaaban Sayed 86Müller, Bettina 116Muqaddasi, Quddoos H. 56, 57Muraya, Moses 38Mwathi, Margaret 32

NNagel, Manuela 45, 53Nettleton, Dan 107Neumann, Kerstin 66, 68, 78Neumann, Ulla 97Novakazi, Fluturë 88Nussbaumer, Thomas 81

OObermeier, Christian 60, 62, 122, 124Ogbonnaya, Francis Chucks 109Oldach, Klaus 70, 83Ollier, Marine 19, 74Oppermann, Markus 50Orantes, Mauricio 79Ordon, Frank 15, 47, 65, 70, 76, 81, 83,

87, 88, 90, 113, 133, 139Osthoff, Alina 108Ouzunova, Milena 54Oyiga, Benedict Chijioke 109

PPankin, Artem 16Patiranage, Dilan S.R. 71Perovic, Dragan 65, 70, 81, 87, 113, 133Pesaran Afsharyan, Nazanin 82Pestsova, Elena 143

Peters, Rolf 39Pham, Anh 98Pidon, Hélène 83Piepho, Hans-Peter 107, 116Pillen, Klaus 28, 57, 63, 72, 77, 85, 95,

98, 113, 133, 134Plieske, Jörg 57Pogoda, Maria 75Pohl, Karolin 76Pouramini, Pouneh 35Prat, Noemie 19Presterl, Thomas 54, 138Przybyl, Marine 23, 97Pude, Ralf 143Pusadee, Tonapha 43, 101

QQuezada, Daniela 79

RRabanus-Wallace, Mark Timothy 144Rahman, Iffat Ara 121Rakha, Mohamed 67Reif, Jochen C. 38Reif, Jochen Christoph 50, 75, 78Reuter, Philipp 35Richter, Chris 63Richter, Jan-Christoph 99, 110, 142Riedel, Christine 46Riewe, David 38, 89Robert, Olivier 74Röder, Marion S. 56, 57Rubtsova, Myroslava 103, 126Rudack, Katharina 39Ruge-Wehling, Brigitte 96Rutten, Twan 103, 126Rybka, Dominika 27

SSamans, Birgit 89Sannemann, Wiebke 77, 95Saranga, Yehoshua 133Sargent, Daniel J 114Sarker, Rakha Hari 121Sashidhar, Niharika 125Schaffasz, Andre 105Schiessl, Sarah 24, 79Schikora, Adam 76Schmid, Karl 93, 135Schmidt, Maria 72Schmutzer, Thomas 85Schnurbusch, Thorsten 26Schoen, Chris-Carolin 54Scholten, Stefan 27Schön, Chris-Carolin 29Schoof, Heiko 107Schrag, Tobias A. 27Schulthess, Albert 50

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Schulz, Dietmar 102Schulze-Lefert, Paul 37Schumann, Henrik 140Schweizer, Günther 46Schweizer, Patrick 75, 80Schwertfirm, Grit 46Seddig, Sylvia 39Seifert, Felix 27Seiffert, Udo 72, 134Senula, Angelika 103Serfling, Albrecht 47Shahid, Mohamad 98Shah, Md. Nur Ahad 58Shah, Smit 24Sharma, Rajiv 85Sharma, Ram Chandra 109Sharwood, Robert 25Sieber, Karen 55, 117Siebrecht-Schöll, Daniel 92Silvar, Cristina 81Simianer, Henner 111Snowdon, Rob 120Snowdon, Rod 17, 60, 62, 64, 69, 79,

89, 94, 105, 106, 122, 124Souza, Edward 36Sparry, Ellen 118Sprengel, Michael 112Sprenger, Heike 39Sprink, Thorben 127Stache, Anne-Marie 116Stahl, Andreas 94Starke, Mathias 137Steiner, Barbara 19Stein, Nils 14, 42, 50, 83Stich, Benjamin 31Stützel, Hartmut 100Szilagyi, Gergely 133

TTacke, Rebecca 61Talle, Vincent 74Tarawneh, Rasha 45, 53Tester, Mark 98Thabet, Samar Gamal Mohamed 86Thiemann, Alexander 27Thomas, William B. T. 98Tikhenko, Natalia 103Tissier, Alain 67Trebing, Sarah 139Tschiersch Henning 38Tsvetkova, Natalia 103

UUlrich, Detlef 51Unkel, Katharina 127

VVan Damme, Patrick 44

Van de Weyer, Anna-Lena 84Van Inghelandt, Delphine 31Varshney, Rajeev 22Vatter, Thomas 81Vedder, Lucia 107Vidovic, Marija 48Vojgani, Elaheh 111Volkmann, Susann 62Vollrath, Paul 60von Korff, Maria 16, 18von Tiedemann, Andreas 62Voss-Fels, Kai P. 94

WWabila, Celestine 66, 68Wagner, Christian 19Walther, Dirk 39Wang, Haoyi 123Wang, Yaping 87Wehner, Gwendolin 76Weigel, Detlef 52, 84Weigelt-Fischer, Kathleen 91Weinholdt, Claus 24Wendler, Neele 70, 83Werner, Christian R 114Westhoff, Peter 143Wever, Christian 143Wiegmann, Mathias 98Windpassinger, Steffen 105Wittkop, Benjamin 94, 105, 106Wrightsman, Travis 52Wulff, Brande 21

YYusuf, Abdusaheed Olabisi 110

ZZahn, Sebastian 134Zeiger, Bärbel 51Zhao, Yusheng 38, 78Zhou, Ruonan 42Zou, Jun 24Zuther, Ellen 39Zvereva, Olga 51

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