An improved 7K SNP array, the C7AIR, provides a wealth of validated SNP markers for rice breeding and genetics studies

PLoS One. 2020 May 14;15(5):e0232479. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232479. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are highly abundant, amendable to high-throughput genotyping, and useful for a number of breeding and genetics applications in crops. SNP frequencies vary depending on the species and populations under study, and therefore target SNPs need to be carefully selected to be informative for each application. While multiple SNP genotyping systems are available for rice (Oryza sativa L. and its relatives), they vary in their informativeness, cost, marker density, speed, flexibility, and data quality. In this study, we report the development and performance of the Cornell-IR LD Rice Array (C7AIR), a second-generation SNP array containing 7,098 markers that improves upon the previously released C6AIR. The C7AIR is designed to detect genome-wide polymorphisms within and between subpopulations of O. sativa, as well as O. glaberrima, O. rufipogon and O. nivara. The C7AIR combines top-performing SNPs from several previous rice arrays, including 4,007 SNPs from the C6AIR, 2,056 SNPs from the High Density Rice Array (HDRA), 910 SNPs from the 384-SNP GoldenGate sets, 189 SNPs from the 44K array selected to add information content for elite U.S. tropical japonica rice varieties, and 8 trait-specific SNPs. To demonstrate its utility, we carried out a genome-wide association analysis for plant height, employing the C7AIR across a diversity panel of 189 rice accessions and identified 20 QTLs contributing to plant height. The C7AIR SNP chip has so far been used for genotyping >10,000 rice samples. It successfully differentiates the five subpopulations of Oryza sativa, identifies introgressions from wild and exotic relatives, and is useful for quantitative trait loci (QTL) and association mapping in diverse materials. Moreover, data from the C7AIR provides valuable information that can be used to select informative and reliable SNP markers for conversion to lower-cost genotyping platforms for genomic selection and other downstream applications in breeding.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • DNA, Plant / genetics*
  • Genetic Markers
  • Genome, Plant
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis*
  • Oryza / classification
  • Oryza / genetics*
  • Phylogeny
  • Plant Breeding
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide*
  • Quantitative Trait Loci
  • Species Specificity

Substances

  • DNA, Plant
  • Genetic Markers

Grants and funding

Funding was provided by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF-PGRP awards #1026555 and # IOS-1444511 to SMc), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (via AfricaRice: “Rapid mobilization of alleles for rice cultivar improvement in sub-saharan Africa”), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant "Transforming Rice Breeding" number OPP1076488 (TK, JDA), Texas A&M AgriLife Research (MJT, EMS, RET), and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Hatch projects 1009299 (MJT) and 1009300 (EMS). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.