SNP Diversity and Genetic Structure of "Rogosija", an Old Western Balkan Durum Wheat Collection

Ana Velimirović; Zoran Jovović; Dragan Perović; Heike Lehnert; Sanja Mikić; Dragan Mandić; Novo Pržulj; Giacomo Mangini; Mariella Matilde Finetti-Sialer

doi:10.3390/plants12051157

SNP Diversity and Genetic Structure of "Rogosija", an Old Western Balkan Durum Wheat Collection

Plants (Basel). 2023 Mar 3;12(5):1157. doi: 10.3390/plants12051157.

Authors

Ana Velimirović¹, Zoran Jovović¹, Dragan Perović², Heike Lehnert³, Sanja Mikić⁴, Dragan Mandić⁵, Novo Pržulj⁶, Giacomo Mangini⁷, Mariella Matilde Finetti-Sialer⁷

Affiliations

¹ Biotechnical Faculty Podgorica, University of Montenegro, Mihaila Lalića 15, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro.
² Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Julius Kuehn-Institute, Erwin-Baur-Strasse 27, 06484 Quedlinburg, Germany.
³ Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Biosafety in Plant Biotechnology, Julius Kuehn-Institute, Erwin-Baur-Strasse 27, 06484 Quedlinburg, Germany.
⁴ Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Maksima Gorkog 30, 21101 Novi Sad, Serbia.
⁵ Agricultural Institute of Republika Srpska, Knjaza Miloša 17, 78000 Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
⁶ Faculty of Agriculture, University of Banjaluka, Bulevar vojvode P. Bojovića 1a, 78000 Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
⁷ Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources, National Research Council (IBBR-CNR), Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.

Abstract

Durum wheat landraces represent a genetic resource for the identification and isolation of new valuable genes and alleles, useful to increase the crop adaptability to climate change. Several durum wheat landraces, all denominated "Rogosija", were extensively cultivated in the Western Balkan Peninsula until the first half of the 20th century. Within the conservation program of the Montenegro Plant Gene Bank, these landraces were collected, but without being characterized. The main goal of this study was to estimate the genetic diversity of the "Rogosija collection" consisting of 89 durum accessions, using 17 morphological descriptors and the 25K Illumina single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. The genetic structure analysis of the Rogosija collection showed two distinguished clusters localized in two different Montenegro eco-geographic micro-areas, characterized by continental Mediterranean climate and maritime Mediterranean climate. Data suggest that these clusters could be composed of two different Balkan durum landrace collections evolved in two different eco-geographic micro-areas. Moreover, the origin of Balkan durum landraces is discussed.

Keywords: 25K Illumina SNP array; Rogosija; UPOV descriptors; Western Balkan eco-geographic region; durum wheat landraces; genetic diversity.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technological Development of Montenegro that funded this research through the Program for awarding scholarships for doctoral research in Montenegro, Contract No. 01–4042.