Development and molecular characterization of a novel wheat genotype having purple grain colour

Purple colour of wheat grain is determined by anthocyanin accumulation in the pericarp. This trait is controlled in hexaploid Triticum aestivum or tetraploid T. durum wheats by two complementary dominant genes Pp1 (chromosome 7B) and Pp3 (chromosome 2A). It remained unclear, whether functional alleles of one of the two complementary Pp genes occur in the diploid progenitors of allopolyploid wheat or in tetraploid T. timopheevii. In the current study, a purple-grained wheat line PC was obtained by crossing non-purple-grained T. aestivum Line 821 and Line 102/00i carrying introgressions from T. timopheevii and Aegilops speltoides, respectively. Crosses of lines 821 and 102/00i with a number of tester lines and cultivars did not result in purple-grained genotypes suggesting that expression of this trait in PC was controlled by complementary factors, one located in the T. timopheevii introgression and the other in the introgression inherited from Ae. speltoides. Genotyping of PC and other parental lines using microsatellite markers located on wheat chromosomes 7B and 2A showed that PC carries chromosome 7S of Ae. speltoides substituting for chromosome 7B, whereas chromosome 2A of PC contains an extended introgression from T. timopheevii