Construction of a Genetic Map of RILs Derived from Wheat (T. aestivum L.) Varieties Pamyati Azieva × Paragon Using High-Throughput SNP Genotyping Platform KASP—Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR

The main purposes of the study were (i) to develop a mapping population, (ii) to construct its genetic map for further identification of genes associated with important agronomic traits. To the best of our knowledge this is the first segregating population and genetic map developed for Kazakh bread wheat. The work is an example of how plant breeding programs in Kazakhstan have started successfully using next generation plant breeding methods to carry out systematic plant breeding to enhance final grain harvest. The KASP technology and SNP DNA-markers have been exploited to genotype and build a genetic map. The total length of the map was 1376 cM. A total 157, which spanned A, B and D subgenomes, out of the initial 178 SNP markers used formed 26 linkage groups leaving 1 duplicated and 20 unassigned markers. As threshold distance between markers was set ≤30 cM, two linkage groups were obtained for chromosomes such as 2А, 2В, 2D, 3A, 5A, 6B and 7A. Kosambi mapping function was employed to calculate recombination units. RILs were developed through SSD method up to F4 generation. Almost 97% of identified alleles were useful in evaluating the population’s genetic diversity; the remaining 3% showed no outcome. As a result, 77 DNA markers were mapped for A, 74 for B and 27 for D genomes. The mapping population will be genotyped using a high marker density array platform such as Illumina iSelect to obtain a genetic map with a relatively high coverage. Then, the population and high-resolution genetic map will be used to identify genes influencing wheat adaptation in Kazakhstan.