MAGIC Yield: Deploying MAGIC Populations for Rapid Development of Genetic Markers for Yield Improvement in Elite UK Winter Wheat

背景：小麦是英国的主要农作物，种植面积为160万公顷。维持小麦产量是实现经济和环境可持续粮食安全的关键组成部分。为了满足日益增长的需求，小麦产量必须增加；在英国，这需要在气候变幻莫测、投入减少的背景下进行。要实现“可持续的集约化”，育种人员需要在面对不可预测的未来环境时，同时提高产量和产量稳定性。在经历了战后英国农场小麦产量持续增加的时期后，由于遗传和农艺方面的改进，在过去的15年里，产量没有增加的趋势。提高遗传改良率的改进方法是解决方案的关键组成部分。在英国小麦研究领域，该项目首次利用了最新可用的方法和资源的强大组合，能够高精度地检测产量的遗传决定因素，从而能够在六个参与的产业合作伙伴中快速部署项目成果。核心是使用我们独特的多亲高级世代间杂交(MAGIC)群体，该群体结合了高遗传多样性(起源于8个英国小麦品种)和高水平的遗传重组(通过多轮杂交捕捉到的基因重组，并产生了1,000个后代系)。项目目标：MAGIC产量目标是提高谷物产量的基因，这是育种者和农民的主要目标。它利用高密度遗传标记覆盖与捕捉高水平遗传重组和多样性的魔术种群的强大结合，以：(1)高精度地识别和表征小麦中控制产量、产量构成和产量稳定性的遗传区域。(2)提供分子工具包，小麦育种者可以在他们的育种计划中使用该分子工具包来部署和跟踪被发现赋予有益产量和产量稳定性的小麦基因组区域。(3)向参与育种的人提供分析管道和资源，他们可以利用这些分析管道和资源在项目持续时间内和之后独立地进行魔术数据集的分析。(4)使用新的分子育种方法，基因组选择，以允许仅基于分子数据在魔术品系中进行产量和产量稳定性的选择。(5)提供以魔术种群为中心的资源，从中可以开展针对可持续小麦生产的更多组成部分的未来研究。(6)发展和加强学术和工业小麦研发社区之间的互动，以确保结果和资源有效地传播，以造福英国农业。应用和好处：应用现代分子育种方法精确确定产量和产量稳定性的决定因素的能力，将导致开发性能更好的新小麦品种。这些品种将为英国农学部门带来重大好处，有助于提高小麦产量，并防止当前和未来气候变化对产量的威胁。促进英国小麦研发部门的发展将有助于确保农业部门的竞争力，并支持英国的作物研究和创新。最终，促进稳定和可持续的英国小麦生产有利于消费者的食品价格，并将食品生产对环境的影响降至最低。

Context:Wheat is the UK's major crop, covering 1.6 million hectares. Maintaining wheat yield is a critical component towards achieving economically and environmentally sustainable food security. To meet growing demand, wheat yields must increase; in the UK, this needs to take place against a background of unpredictable climate and reduced inputs. Delivering 'sustainable intensification' requires breeders to improve both yield and yield stability, in the face of unpredictable future environments. After a post-war period of sustained on-farm UK wheat yield increases, a result of both genetic and agronomic improvement, there has been no increasing trend in yield over the last fifteen years. Improved methods to increase the rate of genetic improvement represent a critical component of the solution. For the first time in UK wheat research, this project utilises a powerful combination of newly available approaches and resources, allowing detection of the genetic determinants of yield at high-precision, thus enabling rapid deployment of project outcomes within the six participating industrial partners. Central is the use of our unique Multiparent Advanced Generation Inter-Cross (MAGIC) population, which combines high genetic diversity (originating from eight UK wheat varieties), and high levels of genetic reshuffling ('genetic recombination', captured via multiple rounds of intercrossing, and the generation of the resulting 1,000 progeny lines).Project objectives: MAGIC Yield targets the genetic improvement of grain yield, the principle target for both breeders and farmers. It exploits the powerful union of high-density genetic marker coverage with a MAGIC population that captures high levels of genetic recombination and diversity, to:(1) Identify and characterise the genetic regions in wheat controlling yield, yield components and yield stability, at high precision.(2) Provide a molecular tool-kit with which wheat breeders can use in their breeding programs to deploy and track the regions of the wheat genome found to confer beneficial yield and yield stability.(3) Provide the participating breeders with analysis pipelines and resources with which they can independently carry out analysis of MAGIC datasets, both within and after project duration.(4) Use the novel molecular breeding methodology, Genomic Selection, to allow selection for yield and yield stability in the MAGIC lines, based on molecular data alone.(5) Provide resources centered around the MAGIC population, from which future studies targeting additional components of sustainable wheat production can be undertaken.(6) Develop and enhance interaction between the academic and industrial wheat R&D communities to ensure results and resources are effectively disseminated for the benefit of UK agriculture.Applications and benefits: The ability to apply modern molecular breeding approaches to precisely determine the determinants of yield and yield stability will lead to the development of new wheat varieties with improved performance. Such varieties would be of major benefit to the UK agronomy sector, helping increase wheat yields and protect against current and future threats to production from a changing climate. Promoting the UK's wheat R&D sector will help ensure the competitiveness of the agricultural sector, and support UK-based crop research and innovation. Ultimately, promoting stable and sustainable UK wheat production benefits the consumer in terms of food prices, and minimising the environmental impact of food production.