Abstract
Genetic mapping is a basic tool necessary for anchoring assembled scaffold sequences and for identifying QTLs controlling important traits. Though bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) is both consumed and used as a medicinal, research on its genomics and genetic mapping is severely limited. Here, we report the construction of a restriction site associated DNA (RAD)-based genetic map for bitter gourd using an F2 mapping population comprising 423 individuals derived from two cultivated inbred lines, the gynoecious line ‘K44’ and the monoecious line ‘Dali-11.’ This map comprised 1,009 SNP markers and spanned a total genetic distance of 2,203.95 cM across the 11 linkage groups. It anchored a total of 113 assembled scaffolds that covered about 251.32 Mb (85.48%) of the 294.01 Mb assembled genome. In addition, three horticulturally important traits including sex expression, fruit epidermal structure, and immature fruit color were evaluated using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data. As a result, we identified three QTL/gene loci responsible for these traits in three environments. The QTL/gene gy/fffn/ffn, controlling sex expression involved in gynoecy, first female flower node, and female flower number was detected in the reported region. Particularly, two QTLs/genes, Fwa/Wr and w, were found to be responsible for fruit epidermal structure and white immature fruit color, respectively. This RAD-based genetic map promotes the assembly of the bitter gourd genome and the identified genetic loci will accelerate the cloning of relevant genes in the future.
Highlights
IntroductionBitter gourd fruit provides a good source of phytonutrients like carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins
Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia; 2n = 2x = 22) is a tropical and subtropical vine in the family Cucurbitaceae, which is widely cultivated in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for its edible and medicinal fruit (Grover and Yadav, 2004; Marr et al, 2004; Van Wyk, 2015)
We report a RADbased linkage map of bitter gourd using an F2 mapping population with 423 individuals derived from two cultivated inbred lines, the gynoecious line ‘K44’ and the monoecious line ‘Dali-11.’
Summary
Bitter gourd fruit provides a good source of phytonutrients like carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. Bitter Gourd RAD-Based Genetic Map (Behera et al, 2010). The first genetic map of bitter gourd was constructed based on amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers (Kole et al, 2012). A year later, the second genetic map was constructed, and it consisted of combined markers including simple sequence repeats (SSR), AFLP, and sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers (Wang and Xiang, 2013). Two RAD-based genetic maps were constructed using two F2 populations derived from the same parents (Matsumura et al, 2014; Urasaki et al, 2017), allowing for preliminary attempts at next-generation sequencing (NGS). Combined with NGS, RAD-seq provides an inexpensive platform that allows high-density SNP discovery and genotyping in large populations (Davey et al, 2011)
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