article · Scientific Reports
Combined heat and drought stress significantly constrain wheat production, particularly during sensitive developmental stages. To address this, an investigation assessed phenology, plant architecture, and kernel yield component traits across a diverse bread wheat population evaluated under heat stress alongside fully irrigated conditions, as well as under combined recurrent drought and heat stress. Using over seventeen thousand single-nucleotide polymorphisms across 187 genotypes, genome-wide association mapping identified nine constitutive markers, twenty-four marker-trait associations, and various pleiotropic and robust genetic variants. The analysis highlighted thirty-five candidate genes involved in cellular and molecular processes under these stress environments. Notably, twelve candidate genes showed high expression during stress conditions, including nine transcription factors known to regulate drought and heat responses. These findings provide genetic targets and markers for breeding programmes aimed at developing resilient bread wheat varieties.
Rising temperatures and recurrent droughts threaten global wheat harvests, which are essential for food security. Identifying the specific genetic markers and regulatory genes that govern crop performance under these stresses provides breeders with precise tools. This supports the development of climate-resilient bread wheat varieties capable of maintaining stable grain yields in volatile growing environments.
The identified markers and candidate genes could assist marker-aided selection programmes operated by seed companies and agricultural research institutions. Because this is early-stage discovery research, the findings require extensive downstream validation, cross-breeding into commercial germplasm, and multi-location field performance testing before market-ready, stress-tolerant seed varieties can be deployed to commercial growers.
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Combined heat and drought stress, mainly during sensitive growth stages, considerably limits wheat yields. Herein, we report on an experiment conducted to analyze and predict the phenology, architecture, and kernel yield component (PAKyC) traits of a diverse bread wheat population grown under heat stress and fully irrigated conditions (HSFIC), and combined recurrent drought and heat stress (CRDHS). 17,711 high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used to perform a GWAS for 13 PAKyC traits on 187 genotypes, a subset of 234 genotypes, using the BLINK model. Nine constitutive SNPs, 24 marker-trait associations (MTAs), broad-effect pleiotropic SNPs, conditional pleiotropic SNPs, adaptive pleiotropic SNPs under CRDHS, and two robust SNPs were identified. Furthermore, 35 candidate genes were associated with cellular components, biological processes, and molecular functions under CRDHS and HSFIC. Among these genes, 12 were highly expressed (> 0.5 TPM) in response to drought, heat, and combined stresses. Nine genes were identified to be transcription factors regulating drought and heat responses, while the functions of the other three genes remain unclear. Overall, HSFIC and CRDHS environments enabled the dissection of heritable and strongly correlated traits, MTAs, and pleiotropy types: constitutive, adaptive, and conditional. They also helped identify robust SNPs and candidate genes that are important for bread wheat breeding.
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DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-68092-7
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