Abstract
Plant architecture is vital not only for crop yield, but also for field management, such as mechanical harvesting. The branch angle is one of the key factors determining plant architecture. With the aim of revealing the genetic control underlying branch angle in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.), the positional variation of branch angles on individual plants was evaluated, and the branch angle increased with the elevation of branch position. Furthermore, three middle branches of individual plants were selected to measure the branch angle because they exhibited the most representative phenotypic values. An association panel with 472 diverse accessions was estimated for branch angle trait in six environments and genotyped with a 60K Brassica Infinium® SNP array. As a result of association mapping, 46 and 38 significantly-associated loci were detected using a mixed linear model (MLM) and a multi-locus random-SNP-effect mixed linear model (MRMLM), which explained up to 62.2 and 66.2% of the cumulative phenotypic variation, respectively. Numerous highly-promising candidate genes were identified by annotating against Arabidopsis thaliana homologous, including some first found in rapeseed, such as TAC1, SGR1, SGR3, and SGR5. These findings reveal the genetic control underlying branch angle and provide insight into genetic improvements that are possible in the plant architecture of rapeseed.
Highlights
In nature, a particular plant specializes its architecture and corresponding function
The branch angle would increase with elevating branch physical position regardless of plant architecture (Table 1, Figure 1)
The mixed linear model (MLM) that accounts for population structure (Q) and kinship (K), namely, the Q+K model, is a popular and powerful method used for genome-wide association study (GWAS), and it could reasonably resolve the spurious association between traits and markers caused by population structure (Yu et al, 2006; Bradbury et al, 2007)
Summary
A particular plant specializes its architecture and corresponding function. Such as rapeseed (Brassica napus L.), the desirable architecture is able to produce high grain yields (Wang and Li, 2008). Shoot branching, such as branch angle (BA), is a principal factor in plant architecture (Ariyaratne et al, 2009). Plant density is a vital environmental factor influencing the plant architecture (Diepenbrock, 2000), and results in the capacity to bend the branches to suitable angles for increasing the photosynthetic efficiency.
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