Allelic variation at the VRN-1 locus of Polish cultivars of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

At a molecular level, the length of the vernalization period of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is determined mainly by three loci: VRN-1, VRN-2 and VRN-3. In hexaploid wheat, the Vrn-A1, Vrn-B1 and Vrn-D1 genes are dominant for spring growth habit and epistatic to the alleles for winter growth habit. We used DNA markers to determine the VRN-1 genotypes of 43 common wheat cultivars from the Polish register. All of the 30 examined winter wheat cultivars carried the recessive vrn-A1 allele, and all of the 13 analyzed spring cultivars carried the dominant Vrn-A1a allele. Moreover, 13 winter and 11 spring cultivars carried the dominant Vrn-B1 allele. These results confirmed that the hexaploid wheat growth habit is determined mainly by the VRN-A1 locus.