Inheritance analysis and mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling individual anthocyanin compounds in purple barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grains

Inheritance analysis and mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling individual anthocyanin compounds in purple barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grains

Xiao-Wei Zhang, Qian-Tao Jiang, Yu-Ming Wei, Chunji Liu

Published: August 23, 2017https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183704

About the Authors

Xiao-Wei Zhang
Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing
Affiliations CSIRO Agriculture & Food, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia, Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Wenjiang, Chengdu, China
Qian-Tao Jiang
Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing
Affiliation Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Wenjiang, Chengdu, China
Yu-Ming Wei
Roles Conceptualization, Resources, Software, Supervision, Writing – review & editing
Affiliation Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Wenjiang, Chengdu, China
Chunji Liu
Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing
* E-mail: chunji.liu@csiro.au
Affiliation CSIRO Agriculture & Food, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3399-7743

Anthocyanin-rich barley can have great potential in promoting human health and in developing nutraceuticals and functional foods. As different anthocyanin compounds have different antioxidant activities, breeding cultivars with pre-designed anthocyanin compositions could be highly desirable. Working toward this possibility, we assessed and reported for the first time the genetic control of individual anthocyanin compounds in barley. Of the ten anthocyanins assessed, two, peonidin-3-glucoside (P3G) and cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G), were major components in the purple pericarp barley genotype RUSSIA68. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping showed that both anthocyanin compounds were the interactive products of two loci, one located on chromosome arm 2HL and the other on 7HS. However, the two different anthocyanin components seem to be controlled by different interactions between the two loci. The effects of the 7HS locus on P3G and C3G were difficult to detect without removing the effect of the 2HL locus. At least one copy of the 2HL alleles from the purple pericarp parent was required for the synthesis of P3G. This does not seem to be the case for the production of C3G which was produced in each of all the different allele combinations between the two loci. Typical maternal effect was also observed in the inheritance of purple pericarp grains in barley. The varied values of different compounds, coupled with their different genetic controls, highlight the need for targeting individual anthocyanins in crop breeding and food processing.