Abstract
BackgroundSeedling stage plant biomass is usually used as an auxiliary trait to study plant growth and development or stress adversities. However, few molecular markers and candidate genes of seedling biomass-related traits were found in cotton.ResultHere, we collected 215 Gossypium arboreum accessions, and investigated 11 seedling biomass-related traits including the fresh weight, dry weight, water content, and root shoot ratio. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) utilizing 142,5003 high-quality SNPs identified 83 significant associations and 69 putative candidate genes. Furthermore, the transcriptome profile of the candidate genes emphasized higher expression of Ga03G1298, Ga09G2054, Ga10G1342, Ga11G0096, and Ga11G2490 in four representative cotton accessions. The relative expression levels of those five genes were further verified by qRT-PCR.ConclusionsThe significant SNPs, candidate genes identified in this study are expected to lay a foundation for studying the molecular mechanism for early biomass development and related traits in Asian cotton.
Highlights
Seedling stage plant biomass is usually used as an auxiliary trait to study plant growth and development or stress adversities
The significant Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), candidate genes identified in this study are expected to lay a foundation for studying the molecular mechanism for early biomass development and related traits in Asian cotton
The vigorous vegetative growth has been used as an indicator for stress resistance and high yield due to the potential source to sink mobilization of reserves stored in vegetative plant parts, viz., stem, leaves, and roots [1,2,3,4]
Summary
Seedling stage plant biomass is usually used as an auxiliary trait to study plant growth and development or stress adversities. Many studies have used derived traits and/or indices of vegetative growth, including fresh weight [5, 6], dry weight [7], index of cell water content [8], Delf ’s index [9], stem reserve mobilization [2], surface expansion [9], and leaf succulence [9]. There was a hypothesis that greater seedling biomass-related traits like water content and root shoot ratio could enhance the chances that cotton seedlings resist pests and diseases, and may improve the ability to tolerate abiotic stress [14,15,16]. A still fewer study has been reported for genetic control of seedling
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