Herbicide response polymorphisms in wild emmer wheat: ecological and isozyme correlations.

We demonstrate that the scores and frequencies of chlortoluron (CT) and metoxuron (MX) resistance and susceptible phenotypes of wild emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccoides, are correlated with ecological factors and allozyme markers. Some isozyme markers located on chromosome 6B (e.g. Adh,Est-4 and Got), which also harbours the CT and MX resistance gene, provide good genetic markers for herbicide resistance breeding. Significant correlations between herbicide and photosynthetic characters suggest that the evolution of herbicide resistance polymorphisms may be related to the process of photosynthesis in nature and predated domestication of cultivated wheat.