Dezheng Liu, 2020050071@nwafu.edu.cn; Yin-gang Hu, huyingang@nwafu.edu.cn

Stomata represent the primary conduit through which plants facilitate the exchange of water and gases with the environment and serve a pivotal role in this process. In order to identify stomatal trait characteristics and screen for genes related to stomatal traits with drought tolerance and water-saving properties in wheat, four stomatal traits were determined under two environmental conditions in two growing seasons using 184 wheat populations as a natural population.

A genome-wide association analysis of stomatal traits was conducted using wheat 660K SNP microarrays in conjunction with four models: MLM, Blink, CMLM, and FarmCPU were employed to identify 18 key quantitative trait loci (QTL) intervals on the wheat chromosomes. Nine candidate genes regulating stomatal traits were identified through homologous gene annotation.

Furthermore, new chloroplast localization protein family members, CoA ligase, FLOWERING LOCUS T protein, NAC transcription factors, and 2-oxoglutarate and Fe(II)-dependent oxygenase family proteins were identified. Bayesian Ridge Regression was employed for genomic prediction, resulting in a prediction accuracy of 71% with a subset of 180 SNP markers.

This underscores the potential of genomic prediction with a limited number of markers in practical breeding applications. In addition, three pairs of KASP markers were developed in AX-110069905, AX-111486660, and AX-111646728, respectively, and validated in natural populations.

These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of wheat stomatal traits and provide a reference value for germplasm screening and the innovation of wheat stomatal traits.