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Epistasis together with partial dominance, over-dominance and QTL by environment interactions contribute to yield heterosis in upland cotton

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QTL mapping based on backcross and RIL populations suggests that epistasis together with partial dominance, over-dominance and their environmental interactions of QTLs play an important role in yield heterosis in upland cotton.

Abstract

A backcross population (BC) was constructed to explore the genetic basis of heterosis in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). For yield and yield components, recombinant inbred line (RIL) and BC populations were evaluated simultaneously at three different locations. A total of 35 and 30 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected based on the RILs and BC data, respectively. Six (16.7 %) additive QTLs, 19 (52.8 %) partial dominant QTLs and 11 (30.6 %) over-dominant QTLs were detected by single-locus analysis using composite interval mapping in BC population. QTLs detected for mid-parent heterosis (MPH) were mostly related to those detected in the BC population. No significant correlation was found between marker heterozygosity and performance. It indicated that heterozygosity was not always favorable for performance. Two-locus analysis revealed 46, 25 and 12 QTLs with main effects (M-QTLs), and 55, 63 and 33 QTLs involved in digenic interactions (E-QTLs) were detected for yield and yield components in RIL, BC and MPH, respectively. A large number of M-QTLs and E-QTLs showed QTL by environment interactions (QEs) in three environments. These results suggest that epistasis together with partial dominance, over-dominance and QEs all contribute to yield heterosis in upland cotton.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Zhengsheng Zhang (Southwest University) and Dr. Youlu Yuan (Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences) for providing SWU SSR primers. Thanks to Xianhui Yan and Yihua Rong (Xiangyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hubei) and Shihu Cai, Abdugheni Abduweli, Xiaocui Wang, Yuhua Li (China Agricultural University) for the contributions on field investigations and data acquisition. Thanks to Babar Ijaz (China Agricultural University) for the contribution on manuscript polishing. This research was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31171591), and a grant from the National High Technology Research and Development Program (2011AA10A102) to J HUA.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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Author notes

  1. Qingzhi Liang

    Present address: The Key Laboratory of Tropical Fruit Biology of Ministry of Agriculture, The South Subtropical Crops Research Institutes, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Zhanjiang, 524091, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Genetics and Breeding/Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis and Utilization of Ministry of Education/Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Lianguang Shang, Qingzhi Liang, Yumei Wang, Yanpeng Zhao & Jinping Hua

  2. Research Institute of Cash Crop, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064, Hubei, China

    Yumei Wang

  3. Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Anyang, 455000, Henan, China

    Kunbo Wang

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  1. Lianguang Shang
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  2. Qingzhi Liang
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Correspondence to Jinping Hua.

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Communicated by A. Charcosset.

L. Shang and Q. Liang contributed equally to this work.

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Shang, L., Liang, Q., Wang, Y. et al. Epistasis together with partial dominance, over-dominance and QTL by environment interactions contribute to yield heterosis in upland cotton. Theor Appl Genet 129, 1429–1446 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-016-2714-2

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