Insights into the genetic basis of pre-anthesis tip degeneration and related traits in barley

A GWAS study was conducted in a panel of 416 six-rowed barley accessions collected from the German Federal ex-situ gene bank at the IPK, Gatersleben. A total of 17 barley traits were investigated with a focus on pre-anthesis tip degeneration (PTD), and the analysis was performed using approximately 22 million SNPs. Altogether, we identified 132 marker-trait associations for all the investigated traits and reported three candidate regions for PTD. Using the TILLING approach, we explained the putative functioning of one of the candidate regions harboring an octopentatricopeptide repeat with RAP domain in a barley immature spike. Our analyses aid in a deeper understanding of the PTD mechanism in barley.