A yield-associated gene TaCWI, in wheat: its function, selection and evolution in global breeding revealed by haplotype analysis

Wheat anther-specific invertase genes were haplotyped in wheat. Strong allelic selection occurred during wheat polyploidization, domestication and breeding because of their association with yield traits. Plant invertase hydrolyzes sucrose into glucose and fructose. Cell wall invertase (CWI), one of the three types of invertase, is essential for plant development. Based on isolated TaCWI genes from chromosomes 4A, 5B and 5D, two SNPs were detected in the promoter region of TaCWI-4A, and four SNPs and two Indels were present in the TaCWI-5D gene. No polymorphism was detected in TaCWI-5B coding or promoter regions. CAPS markers caps4A and caps5D were developed to discriminate haplotypes of TaCWI-4A and TaCWI-5D. Marker/trait association analysis indicated that Hap-5D-C at TaCWI-5D was significantly associated with higher thousand kernel weight (TKW) in 348 Chinese modern cultivars grown in multiple environments. Geographic distributions and changes over time of favored haplotypes showed that Hap-5D-C was the most frequent haplotype in modern cultivars and was strongly positively selected in six major wheat production regions worldwide. However, selection for haplotypes at TaCWI-4A was not so evident, possibly due to balancing effects of the two haplotypes on TKW and grain number per spike (GN). In rainfed production regions, Hap-4A-C was favored because it brought more seeds, but in well irrigated conditions, Hap-4A-T was favored in modern breeding because of higher TKW. Evolutionary analysis among wheat and its relatives showed that genetic diversity of TaCWI genes on chromosomes 4A and 5D declined dramatically in progression from the diploid level to modern polyploid cultivars. There was strong allelic selection during polyploidization, domestication and breeding.