Molecular genetic analysis of flour color using a doubled haploid population in bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.)

Flour color is an important trait in the assessment of flour quality for the production of many end products. In this study, quantitative trait loci (QTLs) with additive effects, epistatic effects, and QTL × environment (QE) interactions for flour color in bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) were studied, using a set of 168 doubled haploid (DH) lines derived from a Huapei 3 × Yumai 57 cross. A genetic map was constructed using 283 simple sequence repeats (SSR) and 22 expressed sequence tags (EST)-SSR markers. The DH and parents were evaluated for flour color in three environments. QTL analyses were performed using QTLNetwork 2.0 software based on a mixed linear model approach. A total of 18 additive QTLs and 24 pairs of epistatic QTLs were detected for flour color, which were distributed on 19 of the 21 chromosomes. One major QTL, qa1B , closely linked to barc372 0.1 cM, could account for 25.64% of the phenotypic variation of a * without any influence from the environments. So qa1B could be used in the molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) in wheat breeding programs. The results showed that both additive and epistatic effects were important genetic basis for flour color, and were also sometimes subject to environmental modifications. The information obtained in this study should be useful for manipulating the QTLs for flour color by MAS in wheat breeding programs.