Genomic and Physiological Insights Into Heat-Drought Tolerance in Wheat Through GWAS and Phenotypic Evaluation

Jingjuan Zhang; Weinan Xu; Rakshith S R Gowda; Joel Johnstone; Malona Alinsug; Abhishek Bohra; Vanika Garg; Annapurna Chitikineni; Dion Bennett; Meixue Zhou; Meiqin Lu; Chengdao Li; Zhong-Hua Chen; Reyazul Rouf Mir; Rajeev K Varshney

doi:10.1111/pce.70510

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Genomic and Physiological Insights Into Heat-Drought Tolerance in Wheat Through GWAS and Phenotypic Evaluation

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Genomic and Physiological Insights Into Heat-Drought Tolerance in Wheat Through GWAS and Phenotypic Evaluation

Jingjuan Zhang, Weinan Xu, Rakshith S R Gowda, Joel Johnstone, Malona Alinsug, Abhishek Bohra, Vanika Garg, Annapurna Chitikineni, Dion Bennett, Meixue Zhou, …

Plant, cell and environment

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.70510

PMID: 42015830

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Abstract

heat stress

drought stress

yield traits

Triticum aestivum L

pre‐breeding

genome‐wide association study

heat and drought tolerant genotypes

Climate change-driven heat and drought stresses during reproductive stages significantly threaten wheat productivity. To investigate the genetic and physiological basis of combined heat-drought (HD) tolerance, we evaluated 345 wheat genotypes under three environments of HD stresses, non-stress glasshouse conditions and a late-sowing field trial. HD stresses caused significant reductions in chlorophyll content, flag leaf area, biomass, seed-setting rate and grain weight-related traits. Notably, HD-tolerant lines maintained higher grain weight, grain number and chlorophyll retention, with less than half the reductions observed in sensitive genotypes. A genome-wide association study using a 40K single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array identified 124 candidate SNPs (cSNPs) associated with 51 traits across three environments with 78 cSNPs associated with HD tolerance. In total, 24 cSNP blocks exhibited pleiotropic associations with multiple traits under those three environments. Tight genomic co-localisations were detected between chlorophyll content (SPAD or CCM200 values), flag leaf width, seed-setting rate and grain yield components (thousand grain weight, grain number per spike), with superior haplotypes identified, supporting their utility in selections. Stay-green traits appeared to contribute significantly to yield stability under HD stresses. Those results provide valuable genomic and physiological insights into wheat HD tolerance for future targeted wheat breeding.

Details

Title: Genomic and Physiological Insights Into Heat-Drought Tolerance in Wheat Through GWAS and Phenotypic Evaluation
Authors/Creators: Jingjuan Zhang - Murdoch University, Centre for Crop and Food Innovation
Weinan Xu - Murdoch University, Food Futures Institute
Rakshith S R Gowda - Murdoch University
Joel Johnstone - Murdoch University
Malona Alinsug - Philippine Medical Association
Abhishek Bohra - Murdoch University
Vanika Garg - Murdoch University, Centre for Crop and Food Innovation
Annapurna Chitikineni - Murdoch University
Dion Bennett - Murdoch University
Meixue Zhou - University of Tasmania
Meiqin Lu - Cotton Research and Development Corporation
Chengdao Li - Murdoch University, Centre for Crop and Food Innovation
Zhong-Hua Chen - Western Sydney University
Reyazul Rouf Mir - Murdoch University, Food Futures Institute
Rajeev K Varshney - Murdoch University, Food Futures Institute
Publication Details: Plant, cell and environment
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Number of pages: 19
Grant note: University of Tasmania (UTAS) Western Sydney University (WSU) and the Australian Grain Technologies Australia Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Murdoch University (MU)
Identifiers: 991005879654007891
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Crop and Food Innovation; State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre; Food Futures Institute
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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