Genetic composition of high-quality strong gluten wheat varieties ‘Xinmai 26’ and ‘Xinmai 45’

Abstract The high quility has become an important goal of wheat breeding. Several super-strong gluten wheat varieties, e.g. ‘Xinmai 26’ and ‘Xinmai 45’, have been bred to meet consumer market. However, the genetic composition, transmission frequency and genetic contribution of them and their progeny are not clear. To analyze the genetic composition of the high-quality strong gluten wheat varieties ‘Xinmai 26’ and ‘Xinmai 45’, the genetic contribution rates of male and female parents to the varieties were analyzed using 6056 SNP markers detected by a widely used high-throughput wheat array (15K chip). Additionally, the chromosome polymorphisms of five related wheat varieties were determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using four oligonucleotide probe sets. The results showed that the genetic contribution rate of ‘Jinan 17’ against ‘Xinmai 26’ was 55.97%, much higher than the 15.81% of ‘Xinmai 18’. ‘Jimai 20’ showed a genetic contribution rate of 57.53% against ‘Xinmai 45’, which was slightly higher than that of ‘Xinmai 26’ at 40.21%. The specific fragment differences from male and female parents were identified in both breeding varieties, and ‘Xinmai 26’ had more specific fragments that differed from male and female parents than ‘Xinmai 45’. The chromosomes of group A and group B of the five varieties were significantly polymorphic, but no chromosomes translocations or inversions were found. The promising results would be helpful to explore the genetic pattern of high-quality varieties, promote breeding efficiency, and utilize the superior traits of backbone parents for wheat quality improvement.