Pinpointing the genetic keys to enhanced mineral accumulation in wheat grains toward global nutritional challenges

Mapping the path to enhanced mineral accumulation in wheat grains is important for nutritional well-being and human health. Therefore, understanding the genetic basis of desirable alleles underpinning all minerals is important for wheat biofortification. A core collection of 111 wheat genotypes were evaluated for both years to measure mineral contents, including magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), potassium (K), phosphorous (P), iron (Fe), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn). A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was used to detect the desirable alleles/candidate genes controlling wheat mineral accumulation. Our study showed significant natural phenotypic variation for all of the studied minerals underlying both years and Blues with high heritability values. Interestingly, Fe showed a highly significant positive correlation with all macronutrients (Mg, Ca, P, and K) accumulated in wheat grains. Several potential candidate genes were discovered based on GWAS mapping that were found to play crucial roles in the accumulation of nutrient minerals in wheat grains. Interestingly, high significant QTN marker (Excalibur_c3556_520) was found on chromosome 3A and located inside the gene TraesCS3A02G521300 annotated as ubiquitin-protein transferase. Our findings also revealed that the accessions carrying A allele showed high mineral concentration compared with the accessions carrying G allele, indicating the negative selection for the accessions carrying G allele that contributes to improving the nutritional quality of wheat grains. Our study highlighted the innovative aspect of identifying specific genes that could revolutionize wheat biofortification strategies, emphasizing the potential impact on improving dietary mineral intake and addressing micronutrient deficiencies globally.