Application Guide - QIAxcel Advanced

126 QIAxcel Advanced Application Guide 10/2016 Marker-assisted selection (MAS) of wheat lines for udon noodle production Mika Saito, Patricia Vrinten, Goro Ishikawa, and Toshiki Nakamura Department of Crop Breeding, Tohoku National Agriculture Research Center, Japan The QIAxcel® system was used for analysis of PCR products generated for marker-assisted selection in wheat. The high- throughput capacity of the system allowed large numbers of plants to be quickly and reliably analyzed, making it highly suitable for plant breeding applications. Introduction The development of wheat varieties begins with a cross between 2 varieties or lines. The plants grown from the seeds of the cross are considered to be the first generation (F1 ); the suitability and productivity of the subsequent generations in multiple regions are examined from the F8 generation onwards for several years. When a variety is found to be superior, it becomes certified and can be grown on a farm. Since a generation requires approximately one year in the field, the development of a variety traditionally requires approximately 10 years. Due to recent progress in genomic research, this breeding approach is undergoing a major change. Rather than selecting traits based on phenotypes, the genes or gene regions that control the traits can be used to design markers, and selection is based on studies of these markers using a method called marker-assisted selection (MAS). The use of DNA markers in MAS enables the selection of plants with the targeted traits by analyzing results from F2 individuals. Thus, MAS is a breakthrough technology that changes the process of variety development from the traditional field-based format to a laboratory-based format. As a representative example, we present here a DNA marker selection system for the viscoelasticity trait in udon noodles. Viscoelasticity of udon noodles improves as the amylose content of the starch decreases. Amylose synthesis in seed starch is controlled by the Wx gene family. In wheat, amylose synthesis is influenced by genes from the A, B, and D genomes (Wx-A1, Wx-B1, and Wx-D1 genes). The QIAxcel system.

Pages Overview