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Detection of QTLs for flowering date in three mapping populations of the model legume species Medicago truncatula

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Abstract

Adaptation to the environment and reproduction are dependent on the date of flowering in the season. The objectives of this paper were to evaluate the effect of photoperiod on flowering date of the model species for legume crops, Medicago truncatula and to describe genetic architecture of this trait in multiple mapping populations. The effect of photoperiod (12 and 18 h) was analysed on eight lines. Quantitative variation in three recombinant inbred lines (RILs) populations involving four parental lines was evaluated, and QTL detection was carried out. Flowering occurred earlier in long than in short photoperiods. Modelling the rate of progression to flowering with temperature and photoperiod gave high R², with line-specific parameters that indicated differential responses of the lines to both photoperiod and temperature. QTL detection showed a QTL on chromosome 7 that was common to all populations and seasons. Taking advantage of the multiple mapping populations, it was condensed into a single QTL with a support interval of only 0.9 cM. In a bioanalysis, six candidate genes were identified in this interval. This design also indicated other genomic regions that were involved in flowering date variation more specifically in one population or one season. The analysis on three different mapping populations detected more QTLs than on a single population, revealed more alleles and gave a more precise position of the QTLs that were common to several populations and/or seasons. Identification of candidate genes was a result of integration of QTL analysis and genomics in M. truncatula.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jean-Marie Prosperi and Magalie Delalande from the Biological Resources Center at INRA Montpellier (France), and Alon Samach at the University of Jerusalem (Israel) for providing RILs populations and lines, respectively. We thank Jean-François Bourcier, Aline Gilly and Joël Jousse for phenotyping the plants, Franck Gelin and René Minault for greenhouse management and Michèle Gherardi for genotyping. We are grateful to Françoise Durand and Chrystel Gibelin for the SSR mapping. We thank also Isabelle Litrico, Jean-Paul Sampoux, Ela Frak, Jean-Louis Durand and Delphine Moreau for discussion on the modelling, and Fabien Chardon for advices on multi-population QTL detection. J.B. Pierre received a PhD grant from INRA and Region Poitou-Charentes (France).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, UR4, Unité de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire Prairies et Plantes Fourragères, BP 6, 86600, Lusignan, France

    Jean-Baptiste Pierre, Philippe Barre, Christian Huyghe & Bernadette Julier

  2. INRA-CNRS, LIPM BP27, 31326, Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France

    Thierry Huguet

  3. INP-ENSAT, Laboratoire Symbiose et Pathologie des Plantes, 31326, Castanet-Tolosan, France

    Thierry Huguet

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  1. Jean-Baptiste Pierre
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Correspondence to Bernadette Julier.

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Communicated by C. Gebhardt.

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Pierre, JB., Huguet, T., Barre, P. et al. Detection of QTLs for flowering date in three mapping populations of the model legume species Medicago truncatula . Theor Appl Genet 117, 609–620 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-008-0805-4

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