Identification of QTLs associated with oil content in a high-oil Brassica napus cultivar and construction of a high-density consensus map for QTLs comparison in B. napus

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 2;8(12):e80569. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080569. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Increasing seed oil content is one of the most important goals in breeding of rapeseed (B. napus L.). To dissect the genetic basis of oil content in B. napus, a large and new double haploid (DH) population containing 348 lines was obtained from a cross between 'KenC-8' and 'N53-2', two varieties with >10% difference in seed oil content, and this population was named the KN DH population. A genetic linkage map consisting of 403 markers was constructed, which covered a total length of 1783.9 cM with an average marker interval of 4.4 cM. The KN DH population was phenotyped in eight natural environments and subjected to quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis for oil content. A total of 63 identified QTLs explaining 2.64-17.88% of the phenotypic variation were identified, and these QTLs were further integrated into 24 consensus QTLs located on 11 chromosomes using meta-analysis. A high-density consensus map with 1335 marker loci was constructed by combining the KN DH map with seven other published maps based on the common markers. Of the 24 consensus QTLs in the KN DH population, 14 were new QTLs including five new QTLs in A genome and nine in C genome. The analysis revealed that a larger population with significant differences in oil content gave a higher power detecting new QTLs for oil content, and the construction of the consensus map provided a new clue for comparing the QTLs detected in different populations. These findings enriched our knowledge of QTLs for oil content and should be a potential in marker-assisted breeding of B. napus.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Brassica napus / genetics*
  • Brassica napus / metabolism
  • Chromosome Mapping / methods
  • Crosses, Genetic*
  • Genetic Linkage*
  • Genome, Plant / physiology*
  • Plant Oils*
  • Quantitative Trait Loci / physiology*
  • Seeds / genetics*
  • Seeds / metabolism

Substances

  • Plant Oils

Grants and funding

The work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31071447), the Key Natural Science Foundation of Shannxi Province (2012JZ3001), the High Technology Program of China (2011AA10A104), the Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars of Hubei Province of China (2010CDA097) and New Century Talents Support Program of the Ministry of Education of China (NCET110172). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.