A QTL analysis of aluminium tolerance in barley, using gene-based markers

Barley is more sensitive than the other major cereal crops to aluminium (Al) toxicity. Here, a doubled haploid mapping population was exploited to study the inheritance of Al tolerance in barley. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping was based on a genetic map constructed with genic markers. Al tolerance QTL were identified on chromosomes 2H, 3H and 4H. A sequence homology search was used to derive the putative function of the genes linked to the QTL, in order to identify potential candidate genes for Al tolerance. Some of these candidates are implicated in stress/defence responses, in particular, stress signal transduction, transcription regulation factors and cell metabolism