Identification of QTL for Alkylresorcinols in Wheat and Development of KASP Markers for Marker-Assisted Selection of Health-Promoting Varieties

This study evaluated alkylresorcinol concentration (ARC)
in recombinant
inbred lines (RILs) from the cross of Zhongmai 578 and Jimai 22 in
three environments. ARC exhibited a continuous distribution ranging
from 337.4 to 758.0, 495.4–768.0, and 456.3–764.7 μg/g,
respectively, in three environments. Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
indicated significant (P < 0.001) impacts of genotypes,
environments, and their interactions. The broad-sense heritability
of ARC was 0.76. Genome-wide linkage mapping analysis identified four
stable quantitative trait loci (QTL) for ARC on chromosomes 2A, 3A,
4D, and 7A. Kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) marker of each
QTL was developed and validated in 206 representative wheat varieties.
Wheat varieties harboring 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 favorable alleles had
ARC of 499.1, 587.8, 644.7, 668.5, and 711.1 μg/g, respectively.
This study suggests that combining multiple minor-effect QTL through
KASP markers can serve as an effective strategy for breeding high-ARC
wheat, thereby enhancing innovations in functional food production.