PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lukas Kronenberg
AU  - Steven Yates
AU  - Martin P. Boer
AU  - Norbert Kirchgessner
AU  - Achim Walter
AU  - Andreas Hund
TI  - Temperature response of wheat affects final height and the timing of key developmental stages under field conditions
AID  - 10.1101/756700
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 756700
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/09/04/756700.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/09/04/756700.full
AB  - In wheat, the timing and dynamics of stem elongation are tightly linked to temperature. It is yet unclear if and how these processes are genetically controlled. We aimed to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling temperature-response during stem elongation and to evaluate their relationship to phenology and height. Canopy height of the GABI wheat panel was measured between 2015 and 2017 in bi-weekly intervals in the field phenotyping platform (FIP) using a LIDAR. Temperature-response was modelled using a linear regression between stem elongation and the mean interval temperature.The temperature-response was highly heritable (H2 = 0.81) and positively related to a later start and end of stem elongation as well as an increased final height (FH). Genome-wide association mapping revealed three temperature-responsive and four temperature-irresponsive QTL. Furthermore, putative candidate genes for temperature-response QTL were frequently related to the flowering pathway in A. thaliana while temperature–irresponsive QTLs corresponded with growth and reduced height genes. These loci, together with the loci for start and end of stem elongation accounted for 49% of the variability in height.This demonstrates how high throughput field phenotyping in combination with environmental covariates can contribute to a smarter selection of climate-resilient crops.