Molecular Characterization of Atlas 66-Derived Wheat Near-Isogenic Lines Contrasting in Aluminum (Al) Tolerance

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is the major limiting factor for wheat growth in acidic soils. Genetic improvement of Al tolerance is one of the most cost-effective solutions to improve wheat productivity. The objective of this study was to characterize near isogenic lines (NILs) contrasting in Al tolerance derived from Atlas 66 in the backgrounds of Al-sensitive cultivars Chisholm and Century using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and simple sequence repeat (SSR). A total of 200 AFLP and 88 SSR primer pairs were screened and 12 markers (11 AFLPs and one SSR) were associated with Al tolerance in NILs of at least one recurrent parental background. Among them, nine were linked to Al tolerance in the Chisholm-derived NILs, seven were associated with Al-tolerance in the Century-derived NILs, and three AFLPs derived from the primer combinations of pAG/mGCAG, pCAG/mAGC and pGTG/mGCG, and one SSR, Xwmc331 on chromosome 4D, associated with Al tolerance in NILs of both recurrent parental backgrounds. Those common markers across two backgrounds may be the major marker loci associated with Al-tolerance in Atlas 66 and could be useful for marker-assisted breeding to improve Al tolerance in wheat. In addition, evaluation of Al tolerance among different genotypes using hematoxylin stain and relative root growth revealed that Atlas 66 was more tolerant to Al stress than the NILs, therefore suggested that the Al-tolerant NILs might not carry all Al-tolerance loci from Atlas 66 and inheritance of Al tolerance in Atlas 66 is more likely multigenic.