Genetic Linkage map of Anatolian Durum Wheat Derived from a Cross of Kunduru-1149 x Cham1

Until now only few genetic and physical maps were constructed for durum wheat, mostly belonging to pools of specific geographic regions. The Fertile Crescent is the primary center of wheat domestication and diversity. In spite of importance of genetic resources from this area, a severe lack of information about the genetic structure of the durum wheat pool from this region is evident. Although it’s importance for durum wheat breeding, so far no efforts have been made in order to understand of the genetic structure of the Anatolian durum wheat gene pool. Therefore, this study aims at providing new insights about the genetic structure of durum wheat from Anatolia. The present study represents the first genetic linkage map of durum wheat from Anatolia, containing one famous local cultivar ‘Kunduru-1149’. The genetic linkage map was constructed using a population of 141 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between Turkish cultivar ‘Kunduru-1149’ and Syrian cultivar ‘Cham1’. The linkage analysis resulted in a final linkage map spanning 4853.8 centi Morgan (cM), comprising 396 polymorphic marker loci (213 microsatellite (SSRs), 146 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLPs) and 37 seed storage protein (SSPs). The detected loci distributed over 15 linkage groups (LG) on whole 14 chromosomes of durum wheat. Most of the markers (70.7%) used in this map segregated according to Mendelian laws, while the remaining markers showed significant segregation distortion (P < 0.1). This linkage map represents a key starting point towards understanding the genome structure of Anatolian durum wheat and in order to genetically dissect important agro-morphological and quality characteristics.