QTL mapping of PEG-induced drought tolerance at the early seedling stage in sesame using whole genome re-sequencing

Junchao Liang; Jian Sun; Yanying Ye; Xiaowen Yan; Tingxian Yan; Yueliang Rao; Hongying Zhou; Meiwang Le

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0247681

QTL mapping of PEG-induced drought tolerance at the early seedling stage in sesame using whole genome re-sequencing

PLoS One. 2021 Feb 24;16(2):e0247681. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247681. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Junchao Liang^{1

2

3}, Jian Sun^{1

2

3}, Yanying Ye^{1

2

3}, Xiaowen Yan^{1

2

3}, Tingxian Yan^{1

2

3}, Yueliang Rao^{1

2

3}, Hongying Zhou^{1

2

3}, Meiwang Le^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Crop Research Institute, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchang, China.
² Nanchang Branch of National Center of Oilcrops Improvement, Nanchang, China.
³ Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Oilcrops Biology, Nanchang, China.
⁴ Horticulture Research Institute, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchang, China.

Abstract

Improvement in sesame drought tolerance at seedling stage is important for yield stability. Genetic approaches combing with conventional breeding is the most effective way to develop drought-tolerant cultivars. In this study, three traits and their relative values, including seedling weight (SW), shoot length (SL) and root length (RL), were evaluated under control and osmotic conditions in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from cross of Zhushanbai and Jinhuangma. Significant variation and high broad sense heritability were observed for all traits except SW under stress condition in the population. With this population, a high-density linkage map with 1354 bin markers was constructed through whole genome re-sequencing (WGS) strategy. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping was performed for all the traits. A total of 34 QTLs were detected on 10 chromosomes. Among them, 13 stable QTLs were revealed in two independent experiments, eight of them were associated with traits under water stress condition. One region on chromosome 12 related to RL under osmotic condition and relative RL had the highest LOD value and explained the largest phenotypic variation among all the QTLs detected under water stress condition. These findings will provide new genetic resources for molecular improvement of drought tolerance and candidate gene identification in sesame.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Physiological / genetics*
Droughts*
Genome, Plant*
Genotype
Phenotype
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Quantitative Trait Loci*
Seedlings / genetics*
Sesamum / genetics*
Stress, Physiological

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant #31560400) to Jian Sun and China Agriculture Research System (CARS-15) to Meiwang Le. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.