Seed longevity is the most important trait in the genebank management system. No seed can remain infinitely viable. There are 1241 accessions of Capsicum annuum L. available at the German Federal ex situ genebank at IPK Gatersleben. C. annuum (Capsicum) is the most economically important species of the genus Capsicum. So far, there is no report that has addressed the genetic basis of seed longevity in Capsicum. Here, we convened a total of 1152 Capsicum accessions that were deposited in Gatersleben over forty years (from 1976 to 2017) and assessed their longevity by analyzing the standard germination percentage after 5-40 years of storage at -15/-18 °C. These data were used to determine the genetic causes of seed longevity, along with 23,462 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers covering all of the 12 Capsicum chromosomes. Using the association-mapping approach, we identified a total of 224 marker trait associations (MTAs) (34, 25, 31, 35, 39, 7, 21 and 32 MTAs after 5-, 10-, 15-, 20-, 25-, 30-, 35- and 40-year storage intervals) on all the Capsicum chromosomes. Several candidate genes were identified using the blast analysis of SNPs, and these candidate genes are discussed.
Keywords: Capsicum; GWAS; candidate genes; cold storage; genebanks; genetics; seed longevity.