Abstract
Cotton (Gossypium L.) is a major cash crop throughout the world. In many cotton planting countries, testing for distinctness (D), uniformity (U), and stability (S) is a prerequisite for both the release and intellectual property rights protection of new varieties. Among these three properties, distinctness determination is the most challenging. Correct conclusion of distinctness relies on appropriate selection of similar varieties. So far, selection of similar varieties in cotton DUS testing depends solely on phenotypic characteristics. The use of genetic markers in addition has the potential to further reduce the number of similar varieties required for testing, thus reducing trial costs. In this study, 1,242 cotton varieties that underwent DUS testing in China from 2012 to 2021 were characterized using 42 simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. The polymorphism information content (PIC) of the SSR markers varied from 0.13 to 0.70, with an average of 0.46 and 0.38 for conventional and hybrid varieties, respectively. The mean genetic similarity between pair-wise varieties for conventional and hybrid varieties were 46.7% and 58.5%, respectively. A GAIA distance was formulated for cotton varieties for the first time, using 36 selected cotton DUS testing characteristics. The relationship between the genetic distance based on the SSR markers and the GAIA phenotypic distance was evaluated based on data for 170 pairs of adjacently planted conventional varieties. A genetic distance of 0.2 was preliminarily chosen for similar variety selection in conventional varieties. A scheme of selecting cotton similar varieties using the combination of the genetic and phenotypic distances was suggested. As a result, the number of similar varieties to be planted with candidate varieties would be further reduced, compared to the use of phenotypic data alone.
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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all colleagues in the lab for providing useful discussion and technical assistance. We are very grateful to the editors and reviewers for their critical evaluation of the manuscript and for providing constructive comments on its improvements.
Funding
This work was supported by the Efficient and Accurate Detection of Crop Varieties and Seeds (CXGC2022C01) and the DUS Testing of Varieties Applied for Protection and Maintenance of Known Variety Library in 2022.
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Conceptualization: RH and RL; Methodology: RH, HZ, and RL; Formal Analysis: LW, YZ, WW and RL; Investigation: YZ, DW, MW, HW, LW, LD, HG, HC and CA; Writing—original draft preparation: LW; Writing—review and editing: LW and RL; Funding Acquisition: HZ and RL; Resources: RH, HZ and HL; Supervision: YZ and RL. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Wang, L., Zheng, Y., Zhang, H. et al. Genetic characterization of cotton varieties and genetic threshold value determination for similar variety selection in cotton DUS testing. Genet Resour Crop Evol 70, 2463–2477 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-023-01575-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-023-01575-y