A QTL Cloning Pipeline in Wheat using MAGIC

CSIRO has developed two wheat MAGIC populations that are being utilized to improve our understanding of the underlying genetic basis of a range of quantitative traits. The population with four founders has been extensively deployed for more than 5 years, while the population with eight founders has become more heavily utilized in recent years. This has resulted in extensive QTL data for a range of complex traits. As a result a novel QTL validation and cloning pipeline has been implemented. The pipeline exploits the increased allelic diversity, power and mapping resolution afforded by large multi-parent mapping populations, whilst reducing complexity by using multi-allelic contrasts at the targeted QTL region. The genetic diversity within the populations also means that the resource is useful for a wide range of traits and genetic backgrounds. I will provide an overview of the pipeline and an application of the approach.