Abstract
Improving yield is a major objective for cotton breeding schemes, and lint yield and its three component traits (boll number, boll weight and lint percentage) are complex traits controlled by multiple genes and various environments. Association mapping was performed to detect markers associated with these four traits using 651 simple sequence repeats (SSRs). A mixed linear model including epistasis and environmental interaction was used to screen the loci associated with these four yield traits by 323 accessions of Gossypium hirsutum L. evaluated in nine different environments. 251 significant loci were detected to be associated with lint yield and its three components, including 69 loci with individual effects and all involved in epistasis interactions. These significant loci explain ∼ 62.05% of the phenotypic variance (ranging from 49.06% ∼ 72.29% for these four traits). It was indicated by high contribution of environmental interaction to the phenotypic variance for lint yield and boll numbers, that genetic effects of SSR loci were susceptible to environment factors. Shared loci were also observed among these four traits, which may be used for simultaneous improvement in cotton breeding for yield traits. Furthermore, consistent and elite loci were screened with −Log10 (P-value) >8.0 based on predicted effects of loci detected in different environments. There was one locus and 6 pairs of epistasis for lint yield, 4 loci and 10 epistasis for boll number, 15 loci and 2 epistasis for boll weight, and 2 loci and 5 epistasis for lint percentage, respectively. These results provided insights into the genetic basis of lint yield and its components and may be useful for marker-assisted breeding to improve cotton production.
Highlights
Cotton is one of the most important economic crops in the world and provides large amounts of raw materials for textile industry
Boll weight, and lint percentage are three yield component traits, which are complex traits controlled by multiple genes with gene 6 gene interaction and gene 6environment interaction [1,2]
There were 94 significant simple sequence repeats (SSRs) (14 loci with individual effects and 93 loci involved in epistasis interactions) associated with lint yield, 95 SSRs (28 individual loci) associated with boll number, 91 SSRs (21 individual loci) associated with boll weight, and 88 SSRs (19 individual loci) associated with lint percentage
Summary
Cotton is one of the most important economic crops in the world and provides large amounts of raw materials for textile industry. On the basis of linkage analysis in the QTL mapping populations, several QTLs controlling lint yield and its component traits have been obtained [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. These detected QTLs involved in large regions of the chromosome, where candidate genes or genetic variants are difficult to distinguish. The mapping results have only limit utilization because of lower genetic diversity in the special population used for QTL mapping and can not fully elucidate the genetic basis of lint yield and its component traits
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