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Fine mapping of qDB.A03, a QTL for rapeseed branching, and identification of the candidate gene

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Abstract

Increasing the yield of rapeseed is required to meet the rapidly expanding demand for both edible vegetable oil and biofuel. Branching, an important determinant of yield potential in rapeseed, is controlled by a series of quantitative trait loci (QTLs). To explore the genetic mechanism regulating the natural variation of branching, a BC1F1 population derived from a cross between dense branching 2 (dense branching line) and L72 (normal branching line) was used to map QTL conferring branching in rapeseed. A major QTL, qDB.A03, for branching-related traits was identified by the BeadChip Array assisted bulked segregation analysis method, which was subsequently validated by the classical QTL mapping approach, and fine mapped to the 256 kb region. This interval contains 56 annotated or predicted genes, 8 of which are candidates for controlling the branching trait. Comparative and expression analysis revealed four promising candidate genes for qDB.A03. Fine mapping and identification of the candidate genes for qDB.A03 represents the first step toward unraveling the genetical and molecular mechanisms controlling branching in rapeseed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financed by the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan (2020CX28), the Key Research and Development Program in Hunan province (2020NK2045), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD010300).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crop Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha, 410125, China

    Bao Li, Tonghua Wang, Yiming Guo, Xinhong Liu, Lichao Deng, Liang Qu & Mei Li

  2. Hunan Hybrid Rapeseed Engineering and Technology Research Center, Changsha, 410125, China

    Bao Li, Tonghua Wang, Yiming Guo, Xinhong Liu, Lichao Deng, Liang Qu & Mei Li

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  1. Bao Li
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  2. Tonghua Wang
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  3. Yiming Guo
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  4. Xinhong Liu
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  6. Liang Qu
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  7. Mei Li
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BL performed research and wrote the paper. WT and YG helped with the experiments. XL, LD and LQ gave advises to the experimental design. ML conceived the project and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mei Li.

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Communicated by Bing Yang.

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Li, B., Wang, T., Guo, Y. et al. Fine mapping of qDB.A03, a QTL for rapeseed branching, and identification of the candidate gene. Mol Genet Genomics 297, 699–710 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-022-01881-7

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