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Association mapping of six yield-related traits in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

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Abstract

Yield is one of the most important traits for rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) breeding, but its genetic basis remains largely ambiguous. Association mapping has provided a robust approach to understand the genetic basis of complex agronomic traits in crops. In this study, a panel of 192 inbred lines of B. napus from all over the world was genotyped using 451 single-locus microsatellite markers and 740 amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. Six yield-related traits of these inbred lines were investigated in three consecutive years with three replications, and genome-wide association studies were conducted for these six traits. Using the model controlling both population structure and relative kinship (Q + K), a total of 43 associations (P < 0.001) were detected using the means of the six yield-related traits across 3 years, with two to fourteen markers associated with individual traits. Among these, 18 markers were repeatedly detected in at least 2 years, and 12 markers were located within or close to QTLs identified in previous studies. Six markers commonly associated with correlated traits. Conditional association analysis indicated that five of the associations between markers and correlated traits are caused by one QTL with pleiotropic effects, and the remaining association is caused by linked but independent QTLs. The combination of favorable alleles of multiple associated markers significantly enhances trait performance, illustrating a great potential of utilization of the associations in rapeseed breeding programs.

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Acknowledgments

The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31071452) and the Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China (No. 20100146110019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, National Center of Plant Gene Research (Wuhan), Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Dongfang Cai, Yingjie Xiao, Wei Yang, Wei Ye, Bo Wang, Muhammad Younas, Jiangsheng Wu & Kede Liu

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  1. Dongfang Cai
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  2. Yingjie Xiao
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  3. Wei Yang
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  4. Wei Ye
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  5. Bo Wang
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  6. Muhammad Younas
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  7. Jiangsheng Wu
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  8. Kede Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kede Liu.

Additional information

Communicated by R. G. F. Visser.

D. Cai and Y. Xiao contribute equally to this work.

Electronic supplementary material

Table S1 Percentage of significant markers associated with six traits using six statistical models (P < 0.01).

Table S2 Associations of molecular markers with six yield-related traits in 2009, 2010 and 2011 years.

Table S3 Multiple comparison among means of inbred lines grouped by haplotypes of associated markers for first branch height (FBH), plant height (PH), silique length (SL) and seeds weight (SW).

Figure S1 LD heatmap of 18 markers repeatedly detected to be associated with the six yield-related traits in at least two years.

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Cai, D., Xiao, Y., Yang, W. et al. Association mapping of six yield-related traits in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). Theor Appl Genet 127, 85–96 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-013-2203-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-013-2203-9

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