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Fine mapping and candidate gene analysis of a major locus controlling ovule abortion and seed number per silique in Brassica napus L.

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Abstract

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A major QTL controlling ovule abortion and SN was fine-mapped to a 80.1-kb region on A8 in rapeseed, and BnaA08g07940D and BnaA08g07950D are the most likely candidate genes.

Abstract

The seed number per silique (SN), an important yield determining trait of rapeseed, is the final consequence of a complex developmental process including ovule initiation and the subsequent ovule/seed development. To explore the genetic mechanism regulating the natural variation of SN and its related components, quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping was conducted using a doubled haploid (DH) population derived from the cross between C4-146 and C4-58B, which showed significant differences in SN and aborted ovule number (AON), but no obvious differences in ovule number (ON). QTL analysis identified 19 consensus QTLs for six SN-related traits across three environments. A novel QTL on chromosome A8, un.A8, which associates with multiple traits, except for ON, was stably detected across the three environments. This QTL explained more than 50% of the SN, AON and percentage of aborted ovules (PAO) variations as well as a moderate contribution on silique length (SL) and thousand seed weight (TSW). The C4-146 allele at the locus increases SN and SL but decreases AON, PAO and TSW. Further fine mapping narrowed down this locus into an 80.1-kb interval flanked by markers BM1668 and BM1672, and six predicted genes were annotated in the delimited region. Expression analyses and DNA sequencing showed that two homologs of Arabidopsis photosystem I subunit F (BnaA08g07940D) and zinc transporter 10 precursor (BnaA08g07950D) were the most promising candidate genes underlying this locus. These results provide a solid basis for cloning un.A8 to reduce the ovule abortion and increase SN in the yield improvement of rapeseed.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Grants 2015CB150200 from the National Key Basic Research Program of China. This study was also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31671279, 31371240 and 31971976).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Yangmiao Jiao, Kunpeng Zhang, Guangqin Cai, Kaidi Yu, Olalekan Amoo, Shaoqing Han, Xiang Zhao, Hao Zhang, Limin Hu, Bingrui Wang, Chuchuan Fan & Yongming Zhou

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  1. Yangmiao Jiao
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  2. Kunpeng Zhang
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  3. Guangqin Cai
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  4. Kaidi Yu
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  7. Xiang Zhao
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  8. Hao Zhang
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  11. Chuchuan Fan
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  12. Yongming Zhou
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Contributions

C.C.F. and Y.M.Z conceived and designed the experiments. Y.M.J., K.P.Z., G.Q.C., X.Z., H.Z. and L.M.H performed the experiments. C.C.F., Y.M.J., O.A., B.R.W. and Y.M.Z wrote the manuscript. K.D.Y. and S.Q.H analyzed the bioinformatics.

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Correspondence to Chuchuan Fan.

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Communicated by Annaliese S Mason.

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Jiao, Y., Zhang, K., Cai, G. et al. Fine mapping and candidate gene analysis of a major locus controlling ovule abortion and seed number per silique in Brassica napus L.. Theor Appl Genet 134, 2517–2530 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-021-03839-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-021-03839-6

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