Field Crop 2024, Vol.7, No.1, 9-16 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/fc 9 Research Article Open Access Studying the Molecular Genetic Mechanism of Barley Stress Tolerance Using GWAS HemingWei Modern Agricultural Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China Corresponding author email: 2397383131@qq.com Field Crop, 2024, Vol.7, No.1 doi: 10.5376/fc.2024.07.0002 Received: 12 Dec., 2023 Accepted: 15 Jan., 2024 Published: 28 Jan., 2024 Copyright © 2024 Wei, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Wei H., 2024, Studying the molecular genetic mechanism of barley stress tolerance using GWAS, Field Crop, 7(1): 9-16 (doi: 10.5376/fc.2024.07.0002) Abstract Genome-wide association study (GWAS) technology has become an important means to reveal the genetic basis of crop resistance. By analyzing a large number of genetic and phenotypic data, GWAS helps to identify key genes and genetic markers related to resistance. The aim of this study was to comprehensively analyze the latest progress of molecular genetic mechanism of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) resistance by GWAS method, introduce the application basis of GWAS technology in plant science, and focus on its application cases in the study of barley resistance to abiotic stresses such as drought tolerance, salt tolerance and low temperature tolerance. This study will also explore current research challenges and look forward to the future direction of combining multi-omics data and advanced bioinformatics tools to more in-depth analysis of genetic mechanisms of barley resistance. This study provides a new perspective and strategy for improving barley resistance by molecular genetics, which is of great significance for the sustainable development of agriculture. Keywords High-throughput sequencing; Epigenetics; Disease research; DNA methylation; Personalized medicine Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), one of the pillars of global agriculture, plays an integral role, not only as a major food and feed source, but also in the beer and health food industries, with economic value and cultural significance across multiple sectors (Langridge, 2018). With the growth of the population and the diversification of consumption habits, the demand for barley continues to grow, and the growing environment of barley is facing unprecedented challenges. Extreme weather conditions brought about by global climate change, such as persistent droughts, frequent floods, salinized soils and abrupt temperature fluctuations, seriously threaten the growing cycle and yield of barley, thereby affecting global food security and the stability of agricultural economies. In addressing these challenges, the application of modern genetics and molecular biology techniques has provided new directions for the improvement of barley. According to the study of Uffelmann et al. (2021), genome-wide association analysis (GWAS), as a powerful genetic analysis tool, has shown its unique advantages in the study of resistance to a variety of crops. By analyzing the relationship between genetic variation and phenotype, GWAS can identify genes or gene regions associated with specific traits without prior knowledge, and the application of this method has greatly promoted researchers' understanding of crop genetic diversity and accelerated the process of agricultural breeding. A new breakthrough has been made in the study of barley resistance through GWAS technology. By analyzing barley samples from different environmental conditions, the researchers were able to identify a series of candidate genes associated with abiotic stresses such as drought tolerance, salt tolerance, and low temperature tolerance, the discovery of which not only enriched the understanding of barley stress response mechanisms, but also provided valuable resources for future molecular breeding (Gyawali et al., 2018). For example, through the functional verification of these resistance genes and the development of molecular markers, it is possible to achieve precise improvement of barley varieties for specific environmental stresses. The GWAS study also revealed the complexity of barley resistance. Many reverse resistance traits have been found to be jointly regulated by multiple genes, which play roles in different physiological pathways, such as signal transduction, osmoregulation, antioxidant defense and hormone metabolism (Gyawali et al., 2018). This
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