Detection of QTL linked to Fusarium head blight resistance in Sumai 3-derived North Dakota bread wheat lines

During the past decade Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by Fusarium graminearum Schwabe has resulted in severe grain yield and quality losses of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the Northern Great Plains of the U.S. Given the complexity of breeding for FHB resistance, molecular markers associated with this trait will be valuable in accelerating efforts to breed resistant cultivars. The objective of this study was to identify molecular markers linked to quantitative trait loci (QTL) for FHB resistance in wheat using a set of lines obtained by several cycles of crossing to North Dakota adapted genotypes, which derived their resistance from cv. Sumai 3. Microsatellite markers spanning the wheat genome were used to screen parents and derived lines. Polymorphisms for parental alleles were compared to disease scores for Type II resistance. The probability of linkage between markers and introgressed resistance genes was calculated using a binomial probability formula based on the assumption that a molecular marker at a specific distance from the introgressed gene, in a near-isogenic line (NIL), will carry the donor-parent allele as a function of the distance between marker and gene and the number of backcrosses/selfs performed in deriving the NIL. Microsatellite loci Xgwm533 and Xgwm274 were significantly associated with QTL for FHB resistance.