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Fine mapping a major QTL for flag leaf size and yield-related traits in rice

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Abstract

Leaf size is a major determinant of plant architecture and yield potential in crops. A previous study showed that the genomic region of chromosome 1 contains a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) for flag leaf size in a set of backcross recombinant inbred lines derived from two elite parental lines (Zhenshan 97 and 93-11). In the present study, the QTL (qFL1) was shown to explain a large proportion of the variation in flag leaf size (leaf length, width and area) in derived populations (BC2F3 and BC3F2) in multiple environments. Using a large segregating population, we narrowed the location of qFL1 to a 31 kb region containing four predicted genes. Expression of one of these genes, OsFTL1, differed between leaves in near-isogenic lines carrying alleles of Zhenshan 97 and 93-11. qFL1 had a pleiotropic effect on flag leaf size and yield-related traits. Conditional QTL analysis of the derived population (BC3F2) supports the assertion that qFL1 is the QTL for flag leaf length and exhibits pleiotropy. Pyramiding of qFL1 with two known genes (GS3 and Wx) from 93-11 into Zhenshan 97 enlarged flag leaves, improved grain size and amylose content, and increased yield per plant, but slightly delayed heading date. These results provide a foundation for the functional characterization of the gene underlying the pleiotropic effects of qFL1 and for genetic improvement of the plant architecture and yield potential of rice.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Program on Key Basic Research Project, National Special Program for Research of Transgenic Plant of China, and the Gates Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Peng Wang, Guilin Zhou, Huihui Yu & Sibin Yu

  2. College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Peng Wang, Guilin Zhou & Sibin Yu

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  1. Peng Wang
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  2. Guilin Zhou
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Correspondence to Sibin Yu.

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Communicated by T. Tai.

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Table S1 The primers used for marker-assisted selection and real-time PCR in this study (DOC 34 kb)

Table S2 The sequencing markers used for fine mapping of qFL1 (DOC 83 kb)

122_2011_1669_MOESM3_ESM.pdf

Fig. S1 Procedure for developing advanced backcross populations and near-isogenic lines (NIL) derived from 93-11/ZS97 backcross recombinant inbred lines (BRIL) for confirmation and fine mapping of QTL. (PDF 91 kb)

122_2011_1669_MOESM4_ESM.pdf

Fig. S2 Substitution mapping with grouped homozygous recombinant BC2F4 lines. Superscript a, b and c indicate significance levels at P < 0.001 versus both controls, CK1 and CK2, respectively. Traits measured include flag leaf length (FL), flag leaf width (FW), secondary leaf length (sLL), and secondary leaf width (sLW). (PDF 17 kb)

122_2011_1669_MOESM5_ESM.pdf

Fig. S3 Location of the quantitative trait loci for flag leaf size on chromosome 1 in the single nucleotide polymorphism bin map. An arrow with short line indicates a QTL detected within a 1.5-LOD support interval. The high density bin map for the ZS97/Minghui63 recombination inbred lines has been described by Yu et al. (2011). (PDF 74 kb)

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Wang, P., Zhou, G., Yu, H. et al. Fine mapping a major QTL for flag leaf size and yield-related traits in rice. Theor Appl Genet 123, 1319–1330 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-011-1669-6

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