Cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is a major oilseed crop providing edible oil and protein. Oil quality is determined by fatty acid composition including the ratio of oleic acid (C18:1) and linoleic acid (C18:2). A genome-wide association study with 13,382 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was conducted to investigate the genetics basis of oil, protein, eight fatty acid concentrations, and O/L ratio (ratio of oleic and linoleic acid) using a diverse panel of 120 genotypes mainly selected from the U.S. peanut mini core collection grown in two years. A total of 178 significant quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with those seed composition traits were identified with phenotypic variation explained (PVE) from 18.35% to 27.56%. RNA-Seq analysis identified 282 DEGs (differentially expressed genes) within the 1 Mb of the significant QTLs for seed composition traits. Among those 282 genes, sixteen candidate genes for seed fatty acid metabolism and protein synthesis were screened according to the gene functions.
Keywords: GWAS; Genetics; Peanuts; RNA-Seq; Seed composition traits.
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