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Thinopyrum distichum (Thunb.) Á. Löve (2n = 4x = 28; J1dJ1dJ2dJ2d) inhabits harsh, dry saline coastal dunes. Its adaptive genes can be of value to cultivated cereals; therefore, single‐chromosome additions were previously developed in hexaploid triticale (×Triticosecale Wittm. ex A. Camus) and common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.); however, their homoeology to triticale and wheat chromosomes remained largely unknown. Here we used genotyping‐by‐sequencing (GBS) to supplement conventional markers and determine the synteny of the Th. distichum addition chromosomes. Twenty‐seven triticale lines with single Th. distichum addition chromosomes were analyzed. Genotyping‐by‐sequencing yielded 2.75 million unique sequences that included 134,506 Th. distichum‐specific tags absent in the wheat, durum wheat [Triticum turgidum L. subsp. Durum (Desf.) van Slageren], ×Triticosecale spp., and rye (Secale cereale L.) controls. The Th. distichum‐specific tags were then sorted into 125,262 informative, single‐pair tags (from one homoeologous group) and 9,244 uninformative, multi‐group tags associated with more than one homoeologous group. Presence–absence patterns produced by the single‐pair tags suggested the presence of 11 different Th. distichum addition chromosomes whose associated sequence tags were then aligned to the Th. elongatum (Host) D. R. Dewey and Chinese Spring (CS) genomic databases to reveal their homoeology. Five prominent translocations were detected among the 11 Th. distichum addition chromosomes and three chromosomes appeared to be extensively restructured. The extra chromosomes in 10 additions to common wheat represented five different Th. distichum chromosomes that were also represented in the triticale set. The 11 distinct Th. distichum addition chromosomes constitute a useful genetic resource for continued dissection of the Th. distichum genomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal that has no known biological function and is toxic for many living organisms. The maximum level of Cd concentration allowed in the international market for wheat grain is 0.2 mg kg -1 Because phenotyping for Cd uptake is expensive and time consuming, molecular markers associated with genes conferring low Cd uptake would expedite selection and lead to the development of durum cultivars with reduced Cd concentrations. Here, we identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with a novel low Cd uptake locus in the durum experimental line D041735, which has hexaploid common wheat in its pedigree. Genetic analysis revealed a single major QTL for Cd uptake on chromosome arm 5BL within a 0.3 cM interval flanked by SNP markers. Analysis of the intervening sequence revealed a gene with homology to an aluminum-induced protein as a candidate gene. Validation and allelism tests revealed that the low Cd uptake gene identified in this study is different from the closely linked Cdu1-B gene, which also resides on 5BL. This study therefore showed that the durum experimental line D041735 contains a novel low Cd uptake gene that was likely acquired from hexaploid wheat., (Copyright © 2018 Abbasabadi et al.)