2014 Volume 64 Issue 4 Pages 399-403
The wild ancestral form of barley, Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum, is a valuable source for gene enrichment of cultivated barley. The purpose of this work was to study the area of distribution as well as the extent and structure of genetic variation of wild barley populations grown in Kazakhstan. It was found that distribution of wild barley populations in Kazakhstan is restricted to the most southern province. A genome wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis was performed in order to study the level of the genetic diversity in 96 accessions representing 14 wild barley populations from Kazakhstan and 25 accessions from the Middle East which is the center of diversity of this subspecies. The oligonucleotide pooled assay was used to genotype 384 SNPs distributed throughout the genome. In total 233 polymorphic SNPs were selected for further statistical analysis. The level of genetic diversity of wild barley populations from Kazakhstan was predictably narrower (He = 0.19 ± 0.01) in comparison with wild barley samples from the Middle East (He = 0.29 ± 0.01). The results suggested that H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum populations in Kazakhstan probably represent a recent spread of a limited number of plants from the primary distribution area and might be well adapted to winter low temperature.
Wild barley, Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum, is a direct progenitor of cultivated barley and valuable genetic resource for its improvement for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and productivity. There are multiple lines of evidence suggesting that most genetic variation of wild barley is concentrated in populations that grow in the Middle East (Nevo 1992). There are several reports describing the extent and structure of the genetic variation of wild barley populations in some parts of Central Asia (Turuspekov et al. 1996, Volis et al. 2001), which is the marginal distribution area of this subspecies (Bothmer et al. 2003). At the same time, despite the facts that Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia and barley is second important cereal crop after wheat in Kazakhstan, there were no reports on characterization of the genetic diversity of wild barley grown in Kazakhstan.
The genetic diversity in wild barley populations has been studied by using a number of different genetic markers, including storage proteins (Doll and Brown 1979, Nevo et al. 1983), isozymes (Brown et al. 1978, Nevo et al. 1986), and PCR based DNA markers (Baum et al. 1997, Nevo et al. 2005, Owuor et al. 1999, Turpeinen et al. 2003). Of these technologies, the automated genome-wide profiling of plants with single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers is increasingly used for evaluation of genetic resources, including barley (Close et al. 2009).
The objectives of this work were to (i) describe the area of distribution for wild barley populations growing in Kazakhstan and (ii) assess the level and structure of genetic diversity in these populations as compared to accessions from the Middle East.
The plant material from southern Kazakhstan consisted of 96 accessions of wild barley that represent 14 different populations (Table 1, Fig. 1). The plants were collected by the expedition team of Kazakhstan with distances at least 10 m apart, and locations were recorded by GPS device (Table 1). In order to make a small subset of H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum collection from International Barley Core Collection, 36 accessions were selected to reflect the structure of country of origin in total 150 accessions. Of the 36 accessions, 25 were collected from the Middle East and used for diversity comparison (Table 2). All wild barley accessions from Kazakhstan and the Middle East were grown in individual pots in a glasshouse. DNA samples were extracted and purified by using commercial kits (Qiagen, CA, USA). The DNA concentration for each sample was adjusted to 50 ng/μl. Selected 384 SNPs from the Illumina oligonucleotide pool assay (OPA) with known genetic positions from a consensus barley genetic map (Close et al. 2009) were used in this study. The map location of each SNP was given according to Sato et al. (2011). PCR, hybridization, and scanning were performed according to the GoldenGate genotyping assay protocol (Illumina Inc.; Fan et al. 2006) at the Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University, Japan. SNP basecalling was performed using GenomeStudio software (Illumina Inc.).
Population | ID in Fig. 2 | Longitude | Latitude | Altitude (m) | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1.1–1.7 | E42 23 56 | N069 38 27 | 620 | Suburb of Shymkent |
2 | 2.1–2.7 | E42 09 28 | N069 45 30 | 762 | Near Akbastau |
3 | 3.1–3.7 | E41 57 95 | N069 29 55 | 715 | Near Kazygurt hils |
4 | 4.1–4.7 | E41 46 15 | N069 32 12 | 699 | Near Turbat |
5 | 5.1–5.7 | E41 52 34 | N069 28 15 | 520 | Near Sharapkhana |
6 | 6.1–6.7 | E41 29 16 | N069 26 09 | 621 | Near Zhibek Zholy |
7 | 7.1–7.7 | E41 29 15 | N069 26 08 | 623 | Near Zhibek Zholy |
8 | 8.1–8.7 | E41 29 15 | N069 26 09 | 626 | Near Zhibek Zholy |
9 | 9.1–9.7 | E41 29 17 | N069 26 09 | 623 | Near Zhibek Zholy |
10 | 10.1–10.7 | E41 26 20 | N069 07 18 | 416 | Near Saryagash |
11 | 11.1–11.7 | E41 24 37 | N069 03 54 | 400 | Near Abai |
12 | 12.1–12.7 | E41 12 48 | N068 35 59 | 270 | Near Birlik |
13 | 13.1–13.7 | E41 53 02 | N069 35 48 | 780 | Near Altyntobe |
14 | 14.1–14.5 | E41 29 18 | N069 26 08 | 624 | Near Krasnovodopad breeding station |
The location of collection sites (2008–2009) of wild barley populations in south Kazakhstan province.
No | ID in Fig. 2 | Accession No. | Collection site | Longitude | Latitude | Altitude (m) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SYR1 | 180001 | Idlib | E036 42 | N36 13 | 320 |
2 | JOR1 | 180007 | Irbid | E035 55 | N32 27 | 500 |
3 | IRQ1 | 180049 | Sulaymaniyah | E044 50 | N35 32 | 640 |
4 | PAL1 | 180303 | (Tel Gezer) | E034 55 | N31 51 | n/a |
5 | PAL2 | 180982 | (Atlit) | E034 56 | N32 41 | n/a |
6 | JOR2 | 181215 | Assarieh; Wadi Al Gazira | E035 54 | N32 29 | 690 |
7 | SYR2 | 181238 | Homs | E039 02 | N34 45 | 530 |
8 | SYR3 | 181306 | Near Birin | E036 39 | N34 59 | 430 |
9 | JOR3 | 181393 | Irbid | E035 39 | N32 29 | 300 |
10 | JOR4 | 181412 | Amman | E035 39 | N31 48 | −220 |
11 | JOR5 | 181440 | Muta; S of Karak | E035 42 | N31 04 | 1220 |
12 | JOR6 | 181454 | Tafila | E035 34 | N30 42 | 1450 |
13 | JOR7 | 181466 | Irbid | E035 50 | N32 39 | 530 |
14 | SYR4 | 181488 | Damascus | E036 32 | N33 50 | 1500 |
15 | LBN1 | 181573 | Rachaiya; 1 km before Ain Hircha | E035 49 | N33 27 | 1020 |
16 | LBN2 | 181585 | 2 km N Kosaya road to Deir El Ghazal | E036 01 | N33 48 | 1180 |
17 | IRN1 | 181590 | 30 km N Urumiyeh to Salmas | E045 00 | N38 05 | 1210 |
18 | IRN2 | 181594 | Arak town | E049 48 | N34 05 | 1600 |
19 | IRQ2 | 181598 | 20 km E Mosul to Aqrah | E043 25 | N36 23 | 470 |
20 | SYR5 | 181616 | Aleppo road from Kamishli | E041 12 | N37 01 | 480 |
21 | LBN3 | 181632 | 2 km before Ain Arab | E035 51 | N33 35 | 1310 |
22 | IRN3 | 181652 | Farm Hoseyn Abad, 116 km | E047 46 | N36 16 | n/a |
23 | TUR1 | 181678 | Bostancik village | E037 21 | N36 52 | 610 |
24 | TUR2 | 181687 | 20 km to Nizip | E037 36 | N37 02 | 745 |
25 | SYR6 | 181725 | Kafr Nabil; 2 km S | E036 33 | N35 36 | 560 |
The statistical analyses of population genetics parameters were performed using GenAlEx (Peakall and Smouse 2006, 2012) and Popgene (Yeh and Boyle 1997). The phylogenetic trees were constructed using neighbor joining method by 1000 bootstrap replications in MEGA6 (Tamura et al. 2013).
Collecting trips in 2008–2009 showed that wild barley (H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum) distribution in Kazakhstan is restricted to the most southern province. The region is considered as one of the most northern margin of distribution for this wild barley by Bothmer et al. (2003) but not described in an earlier study of Harlan and Zohary (1966). Within the province the typical area of growth is in valleys located close to mountain ranges with some sporadic appearance on roadsides of deserted areas, such as population 12 (Table 1, Fig. 1). The most northern successful collecting location was the regional capital Shymkent (population 1). The 14 populations collected were situated within the province as follows: north-east side (populations 1 and 2); south side (populations 3–11, 13 and 14); and far west-south side (population 12). Searches for additional populations to the north, east, and west from Shymkent were not successful. Therefore, assuming that wild barley migrated from the Middle East via other countries of Central Asia, e.g. Uzbekistan, Shymkent might be the most northern location of wild barley in Kazakhstan. The elevation of collection sites varied from 270 m (deserted area, population 12) to 780 m (population 13) above sea level (Table 1). Plants have winter growth habit and seed matures at the end of May under local growing conditions. The major limitation for expansion of wild populations to the north appears to be winter low temperature. Therefore, the accessions which were studied might have undergone natural selection for winter survival.
The extent and structure of wild barley populations from KazakhstanThe genetic diversity of wild barley populations was studied based on the analysis of 384 SNP genotypes using the GoldenGate assay (Illumina Inc.). Of these SNPs, 278 with excellent base call rates for all accessions were selected for further analysis. Forty-five SNPs monomorphic across all samples were removed from the analysis. Therefore, a total of 233 SNP markers were used in the genetic analysis.
The parameters from the genetic diversity analysis of 96 accessions from 14 populations indicated a relatively low level of genetic diversity (He) with the range from 0.002 in population 6 to 0.160 in population 12 (Table 3). The highest within-population heterogeneity was observed for the most southern population (12), which was collected on the roadside of deserted area close proximity to the border with Uzbekistan (Fig. 1). Population 6, which was collected near the Krasnovodopad breeding station in southern Kazakhstan had the lowest genetic diversity. Phylogenetic analysis of accessions from all the 14 populations revealed only one cluster with five sub-clusters (Ia–Ie) as shown in Fig. 2. Although population 6 showed distribution within a sub-cluster, most of the accessions form a population were in multiple sub-clusters and the populations might share genetically close accessions. Therefore, there was a lack of correlation between geographic and genetic distances.
Population | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of accessions | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 |
Naa | 1.313 | 1.378 | 1.292 | 1.206 | 1.339 | 1.009 | 1.373 | 1.232 | 1.300 | 1.391 | 1.408 | 1.446 | 1.343 | 1.232 |
Neb | 1.148 | 1.208 | 1.142 | 1.067 | 1.241 | 1.003 | 1.272 | 1.161 | 1.175 | 1.264 | 1.255 | 1.275 | 1.207 | 1.169 |
Ic | 0.151 | 0.194 | 0.142 | 0.084 | 0.197 | 0.004 | 0.221 | 0.139 | 0.159 | 0.226 | 0.222 | 0.241 | 0.185 | 0.139 |
Hed | 0.096 | 0.127 | 0.091 | 0.050 | 0.134 | 0.002 | 0.152 | 0.095 | 0.105 | 0.153 | 0.148 | 0.160 | 0.123 | 0.095 |
The consensus phylogenic tree for accessions from Kazakhstan (96) and the Middle East (25) constructed using the circle style of the neighbor joining method. Numerals with period indicate population and plant numbers of accessions from Kazakhstan. Accessions of the Middle East are shown in country code and numerals as designated in Table 2. Bootstrap values with 1000 replications are shown in italics.
In order to compare the diversity level of wild barley populations from Kazakhstan with that of germplasm from the center of diversity, 25 accessions from the Middle East (accessions of International Barley Core Collection) were analyzed using the same set of 233 SNP markers which were well spread on barley genome. The results of this comparative genetic description of the two germplasm arrays is summarized in Table 4. All parameters, including effective number of alleles and heterozygosity index, indicate higher levels of genetic variation for the Middle East germplasm than for the Kazakhstan germplasm. In particular, the heterozygosity parameter (He) is much higher for the Middle East germplasm (0.29) than for the Kazakhstan germplasm (0.19). The analysis of variance including all the accessions from the Middle East and Kazakhstan arrays revealed that 23% of the total variation can be attributed to the variation between arrays, while 77% of the total variation is within arrays. On the other hand, the neighbor joining phylogenetic tree clearly differentiates the accessions from the two geographic areas, although accession 5.4 from Kazakhstan population was closer to the Middle East cluster II (Fig. 2).
Population | Middle East | Kazakhstan |
---|---|---|
Number of accessions | 25 | 96 |
Naa | 2.19 ± 0.03 | 1.65 ± 0.04 |
Neb | 1.48 ± 0.02 | 1.32 ± 0.03 |
Ic | 0.47 ± 0.01 | 0.28 ± 0.02 |
Hed | 0.29 ± 0.01 | 0.19 ± 0.01 |
An advantage of this study is that selected SNP markers were previously well-characterized and information on EST markers is available in barley databases (Close et al. 2009). However, the selected 384 SNP markers were developed from EST sequences of several standard cultivars, including Haruna Nijo, Barke, and Morex (Sato et al. 2011). The only wild barley accession that used as a source for EST sequences was line H602 (H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum var. transcaspicum). Therefore, polymorphisms detected in the wild barley population in this study may be biased. Nevertheless, the SNPs represent the best currently available tool for characterizing genetic diversity in barley. The high winter hardiness of wild barleys in this area (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) were observed at the winter barley screening nursery at Oregon State University, USA (Hayes, personal communication). Wild barley accessions in Kazakhstan probably represents a recent spread of a limited number of plants by human activity from the primary distribution area that were reported previously (Harlan and Zohary 1966). Therefore, wild barley in Kazakhstan may be one of examples for expansion of its secondary distribution area.
The fingerprinted wild barley germplasm can be a source of alleles for improvement of cultivated barley. The procedure is clearly shown by Hori et al. (2005) who backcrossed a wild barley segment into an elite cultivar background. SNP marker information is the key for accomplishing efficient introgression. The barley genome sequence data (The International Barley Genome Sequencing Consortium 2012) will provide a larger catalog of SNPs for introducing genes from wild barley more precisely and can help to eliminate deleterious segments efficiently.
We would like to thank Dr. Patrick M. Hayes (Oregon State University, USA) for his critical reading of the manuscript.