Molecular survey of Tamyb10-1 genes and their association with grain colour and germinability in Chinese wheat and Aegilops tauschii.

To investigate allelic variation of Myb10-1 genes in Chinese wheat and to examine its association with germination level in wheat, a total of 582 Chinese bread wheat cultivars and 110 Aegilops tauschii accessions were used to identify allelic variations of three Myb10-1 genes. Identification results indicated that there is a novel Tamyb10-B1 allele, designated Tamyb10-B1c, in the five Chinese landraces. The Tamyb10-B1c possibly has a large deletion including Tamyb10-B1 gene. There are three novel Tamyb10-D1 alleles (Aetmyb10-D1c, Aetmyb10-D1d and Aetmyb10-D1e) that were discovered in Aegilops tauschii. Of them, Aetmyb10-D1c allele possessed a 104-bp deletion and this resulted in a frame shift in the open reading frame of the Aetmyb10-D1 gene. AETMYB10-D1d and AETMYB10-D1e proteins possessed three and two different amino acids when compared with TAMYB10-D1b protein, respectively. Association of Tamyb10-1 allelic variation with grain germination level indicated that all five allelic combinations with red grains showed a significantly higher GP (germination percentage) and GI (germination index) values than those of white-grained Tamyb10-A1a/Tamyb10-B1a/Tamyb10-D1a genotype after storing it for one year. Moreover, the Tamyb10-A1b/Tamyb10-B1c/Tamyb10-D1b genotype possesses the significantly highest GP and GI among the six different Tamyb10-1 combinations. This study could provide useful information for wheat breeding programme in terms of grain colour and germination level.