Genetic Linkage Map of Anatolian Bread Wheat Derived from a Cross of Gerek-79 x Arrehane

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 bread wheat pool from this region is evident. Although it’s importance for bread wheat breeding, so far no efforts have been made in order to understand of the genetic structure of the Anatolian bread wheat gene pool. Therefore, this study aims at providing new insights about the genetic structure of bread wheat from Anatolia. A genetic linkage map was constructed based on recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from cross between the Turkish cultivar Gerek-79 and Moroccan cultivar Arrehane by using DArT markers anchored with SSR markers. This map consisted of 54 linkage groups belonging to twenty-one bread wheat chromosomes, spanning to a total of 935.629 cM. Total number of markers mapped varied from 5 to 87 depending on the chromosomes. Seventy-seven DArT markers with unpublished chromosomal locations were mapped on different chromosomes, whereas 23 DArT markers were mapped on different chromosomes instead of their published chromosomal locations. This linkage map represents a key starting point towards understanding the genome structure of Anatolian bread wheat and in order to genetically dissect important agro-morphological and quality characteristics.