*Correspondence: Wenhao Yan (yanwenhao@mail.hzau.edu.cn)

Tillering is a special branch formed during the growth and development of gramineous crops such as wheat, and during overwintering, when the angle between wheat tillering and the main stem and the ground (tillering angle) is reduced to the extreme, wheat creeping grows. Creeping growth affects agronomic traits such as wheat yield, but there are relatively few genetic studies on the dynamic changes of wheat tillering angle, especially tillering angle.

The QTL mapping of this trait and the discovery of related candidate genes are of great significance for the improvement of wheat plant type and yield. In this study, the association analysis of Yangmai 16/Zhongmai 895 DH population and the natural population was used to investigate the phenotypic data of wheat tillering angles at the overwintering stage, and two significant QTLs were identified through the association analysis of GWAS populations, which were mainly distributed on chromosomes 2B and 5A, among which QTa-5A was mainly concentrated in about 589Mb, which happened to be the interval of vernalization gene VRN1A.

The SNPs on chromosome 5D are concentrated at about 469 Mb, which is the interval of the vernalization gene VRN1D. The QTL mapping results of DH population showed that the QTL controlling creeping was located on chromosome 5D, which happened to co-localize with the natural population.

Combined with the results of GWAS and DH population mapping, it was speculated that VRN1 may be a candidate gene and the functional verification was carried out, and the transgenic results showed that the mutant vrn1 could significantly increase the tillering angle, indicating that VRN1 negatively regulated the tillering angle of wheat.

In the later period, the tillering angle dynamics of the whole growth period of the natural population were studied, and the R2 measured by machine measurement and manual measurement was 0.832, and it was found that QTa-5A did not drive before low temperature and at the beginning of low temperature, and when it lasted for a period of low temperature, QTa-5A gradually exercised its function and continued for a period of time to control the creeping change of wheat, and the QTL function was gradually inhibited when the temperature increased.

The dynamic change of "erect-prostrate-semi-prostrate-erect" plant type provides a reference.