scholarly journals Genome-wide association study of micronaire using a natural population of representative upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jikun SONG ◽  
Wenfeng PEI ◽  
Jianjiang MA ◽  
Shuxian YANG ◽  
Bing JIA ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Micronaire is a comprehensive index reflecting the fineness and maturity of cotton fiber. Micronaire is one of the important internal quality indicators of the cotton fiber and is closely related to the value of the cotton fiber. Understanding the genetic basis of micronaire is required for the genetic improvement of the trait. However, the genetic architecture of micronaire at the genomic level is unclear. The present genome-wide association study (GWAS) aimed to identify the genetic mechanism of the micronaire trait in 83 representative upland cotton lines grown in multiple environments. Results GWAS of micronaire used 83 upland cotton accessions assayed by a Cotton 63 K Illumina Infinium single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. A total of 11 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for micronaire were detected on 10 chromosomes. These 11 QTLs included 27 identified genes with specific expression patterns. A novel QTL, qFM-A12–1, included 12 significant SNPs, and GhFLA9 was identified as a candidate gene based on haplotype block analysis and on strong and direct linkage disequilibrium between the significantly related SNPs and gene. GhFLA9 was expressed at a high level during secondary wall thickening at 20∼25 days post-anthesis. The expression level of GhFLA9 was significantly higher in the low micronaire line (Msco-12) than that in the high micronaire line (Chuangyou-9). Conclusions This study provides a genetic reference for genetic improvement of cotton fiber micronaire and a foundation for verification of the functions of GhFLA9.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jikun Song ◽  
Weifeng Pei ◽  
Jianjiang Ma ◽  
Shuxian Yang ◽  
Bing Jia ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundMicronaire is a comprehensive index reflecting fineness and maturity of cotton fibers. It is one of the important internal quality indicators of cotton fibers and is closely related to the use value of cotton fibers. Understanding the genetic basis of micronaire is required for the genetic improvement of the trait. However, the underlying genetic architecture at the genomic level is not yet clear. The aim of this study was to use GWAS to dissect the genetic mechanism underlying the micronaire trait in 83 representative upland cotton lines grown in multiple environments.ResultsThe GWAS of micronaire was conducted using 83 upland cotton accessions and the Cotton 63K Illumina Infinium SNP array. A total of 11 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on 10 chromosomes for micronaire were detected. Among these 11 QTLs, 27 genes with specific expression patterns were identified and selected. One novel QTL, qFM-A12-1, included 12 significant SNPs, and GhFLA9 was identified as a candidate gene based on the strong, direct LD relationships between the significantly related SNPs and the gene and a haplotype block analysis. GhFLA9 was highly expressed during secondary wall thickening at 20-25 days post-anthesis (DPA). Its expression level was significantly higher in low-micronaire line (Msco-12) than in high-micronaire line (Chuangyou-9).ConclusionsThis study provides a genetic reference for the genetic improvement of cotton fiber micronaire (FM) and lays a foundation for the functional verification of GhFLA9.


2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingru Zhao ◽  
Hanpeng Luo ◽  
Xixia Huang ◽  
Chen Wei ◽  
Jiang Di ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Genetic improvement of wool and growth traits is a major goal in the sheep industry, but their underlying genetic architecture remains elusive. To improve our understanding of these mechanisms, we conducted a weighted single-step genome-wide association study (WssGWAS) and then integrated the results with large-scale transcriptome data for five wool traits and one growth trait in Merino sheep: mean fibre diameter (MFD), coefficient of variation of the fibre diameter (CVFD), crimp number (CN), mean staple length (MSL), greasy fleece weight (GFW), and live weight (LW). Results Our dataset comprised 7135 individuals with phenotype data, among which 1217 had high-density (HD) genotype data (n = 372,534). The genotypes of 707 of these animals were imputed from the Illumina Ovine single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) 54 BeadChip to the HD Array. The heritability of these traits ranged from 0.05 (CVFD) to 0.36 (MFD), and between-trait genetic correlations ranged from − 0.44 (CN vs. LW) to 0.77 (GFW vs. LW). By integrating the GWAS signals with RNA-seq data from 500 samples (representing 87 tissue types from 16 animals), we detected tissues that were relevant to each of the six traits, e.g. liver, muscle and the gastrointestinal (GI) tract were the most relevant tissues for LW, and leukocytes and macrophages were the most relevant cells for CN. For the six traits, 54 quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified covering 81 candidate genes on 21 ovine autosomes. Multiple candidate genes showed strong tissue-specific expression, e.g. BNC1 (associated with MFD) and CHRNB1 (LW) were specifically expressed in skin and muscle, respectively. By conducting phenome-wide association studies (PheWAS) in humans, we found that orthologues of several of these candidate genes were significantly (FDR < 0.05) associated with similar traits in humans, e.g. BNC1 was significantly associated with MFD in sheep and with hair colour in humans, and CHRNB1 was significantly associated with LW in sheep and with body mass index in humans. Conclusions Our findings provide novel insights into the biological and genetic mechanisms underlying wool and growth traits, and thus will contribute to the genetic improvement and gene mapping of complex traits in sheep.


Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Yasir ◽  
Shoupu He ◽  
Gaofei Sun ◽  
Xiaoli Geng ◽  
Zhaoe Pan ◽  
...  

Millions of hectares of land are too saline to produce economically valuable crop yields. Salt tolerance in cotton is an imperative approach for improvement in response to ever-increasing soil salinization. Little is known about the genetic basis of salt tolerance in cotton at the seedling stage. To address this issue, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on a core collection of a genetically diverse population of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) comprising of 419 accessions, representing various geographic origins, including China, USA, Pakistan, the former Soviet Union, Chad, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Sudan, and Uganda. Phenotypic evaluation of 7 traits under control (0 mM) and treatment (150 mM) NaCl conditions depicted the presence of broad natural variation in the studied population. The association study was carried out with the efficient mixed-model association eXpedited software package. A total of 17,264 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with different salinity stress tolerance related traits were found. Twenty-three candidate SNPs related to salinity stress-related traits were selected. Final key SNPs were selected based on the r2 value with nearby SNPs in a linkage disequilibrium (LD) block. Twenty putative candidate genes surrounding SNPs, A10_95330133 and D10_61258588, associated with leaf relative water content, RWC_150, and leaf fresh weight, FW_150, were identified, respectively. We further validated the expression patterns of twelve candidate genes with qRT-PCR, which revealed different expression levels in salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive genotypes. The results of our GWAS provide useful knowledge about the genetic control of salt tolerance at the seedling stage, which could assist in elucidating the genetic and molecular mechanisms of salinity stress tolerance in cotton plants.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 523-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingxing An ◽  
Jiangwei Xia ◽  
Tianpeng Chang ◽  
Xiaoqiao Wang ◽  
Jian Miao ◽  
...  

Cattle internal organs as accessible raw materials have a long history of being widely used in beef processing, feed and pharmaceutical industry. These traits not only are of economic interest to breeders, but they are intrinsically linked to many valuable traits, such as growth, health, and productivity. Using the Illumina Bovine HD 770K SNP array, we performed a genome-wide association study for heart weight, liver weight, spleen weight, lung weight, and kidney weight in 1,217 Simmental cattle. In our research, 38 significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) ( P < 1.49 × 10−6) were identified for five internal organ weight traits. These SNPs are within or near 13 genes, and some of them have been reported previously, including NDUFAF4, LCORL, BT.94996, SLIT2, FAM184B, LAP3, BBS12, MECOM, CD300LF, HSD17B3, TLR4, MXI1, and MB21D2. In addition, we detected four haplotype blocks on BTA6 containing 18 significant SNPs associated with spleen weight. Our results offer worthy insights into understanding the genetic mechanisms of internal organs' development, with potential application in breeding programs of Simmental beef cattle.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
PENG MA ◽  
Xiao Zhang ◽  
Bowen Luo ◽  
Zhen Chen ◽  
Xuan He ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in essential biological processes. However, our understanding of lncRNAs as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) and their responses to nitrogen stress is still limited.Results: Here, we surveyed the lncRNAs and miRNAs in maize inbred line P178 leaves and roots at the seedling stage under high-nitrogen and low-nitrogen conditions using lncRNA-Seq and small RNA-Seq. A total of 894 differentially expressed lncRNAs and 38 different miRNAs were identified. Co-expression analysis found two lncRNAs and four lncRNA-targets could competitively combine with ZmmiR159 and ZmmiR164, respectively. To dissect the genetic regulatory by which lncRNAs might enable adaptation to limited nitrogen availability. An association mapping panel containing a high-density single–nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array (56,110 SNPs) combined with variable LN resistance-related phenotypes obtained from hydroponics was used for a genome-wide association study (GWAS). By combining GWAS and RNA-Seq, 170 differently expressed lncRNAs within the range of significant markers were screened. Moreover, 40 consistently LN-responsive genes including those involved in glutamine biosynthesis and nitrogen acquisition in root were identified. Transient expression assays in Nicotiana benthamiana demonstrated LNC_002923 could inhabit ZmmiR159-guided cleavage of Zm00001d015521. Conclusions: These lncRNAs containing trait-associated significant SNPs could consider to be related to root development and nutrient utilization. Taken together, the results of our study can provide new insights into the potential regulatory roles of lncRNAs in response to LN stress, and give valuable information for further screening of candidates as well as the improvement of maize regarding LN-responsive resistance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanfang Fu ◽  
Cassia da Silva Linge ◽  
Ksenija Gasic

Brown rot, caused by Monilinia spp., is one of the most important diseases on stone fruit worldwide. Severe yield loss can be caused by pre- and post-harvest fruit decay. Although some degree of tolerance has been reported in peach and almond, the genetic resistance in peach cultivars is still lacking. To date, only few genomic regions associated with brown rot response in fruit skin and flesh have been detected in peach. Previous studies suggested brown rot tolerance in peach being a polygenic quantitative trait. More information is needed to uncover the genetics behind brown rot tolerance in peach. To identify the genomic regions in peach associated with this trait, 26 cultivars and progeny from 9 crosses with ‘Bolinha’ sources of tolerance, were phenotyped across two seasons (2015 and 2016) for brown rot disease severity index in wounded and non-wounded fruits and genotyped using a newly developed 9+9K peach SNP array. Genome wide association study using single- and multi-locus methods by GAPIT version 3, mrMLM 4.0, GAPIT and G Model, revealed 14 reliable SNPs significantly associated with brown rot infection responses in peach skin (10) and flesh (4) across whole genome except for chromosome 3. Candidate gene analysis within the haplotype regions of the detected markers identified 25 predicted genes associated with pathogen infection response/resistance. Results presented here facilitate further understanding of genetics behind brown rot tolerance in peach and provide an important foundation for DNA-assisted breeding.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Conghui Jiang ◽  
Muhammad Abdul Rehman Rashid ◽  
Yanhong Zhang ◽  
Yan Zhao ◽  
Yinghua Pan

Abstract Background: Glutinous rice as a special endosperm type is consumed as a staple food in East Asian countries by consumers’ preference. Genetic studies on glutinous rice could be conducive to improve rice quality and understand its development and evolution. Therefor,we sought to explore more genes related to glutinous by genome wide association study and research the formation history for glutinous .Results: Here, genome-wide association study was performed to explore the associated loci/genes underlying glutinous rice by using 2108 rice accessions. Combining the expression patterns analysis, 127, 81, and 48 candidate genes were identified to be associated with endosperm type in whole rice panel, indica, and japonica sub-populations. There were 32 genes, including three starch synthesis-related genes Wx, SSG6, and OsSSIIa, detected simultaneously in the whole rice panel and subpopulations, playing important role in determining glutinous rice. The combined haplotype analyses revealed that the waxy haplotypes combination of three genes mainly distributed in Southeast Asia (SEA), SEA islands (SER) and East Asia islands (EAR). Through population structure and genetic differentiation, we suggest that waxy haplotypes of the three genes firstly evolved or were directly inherited from wild rice in japonica, and then infiltrated into indica in SER, SEA and EAR. Conclusions: The cloning and natural variation analysis of waxy-related genes are of great significance for the genetic improvement of quality breeding and comprehend the history in glutinous rice. This work provides valuable information for further gene discovery and understanding the evolution and formation for glutinous rice in SEA, SER and EAR.


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