Abstract

Modern flax cultivars are susceptible to many diseases; arguably, the most economically damaging of these is the Fusarium wilt fungal disease. Over the past decades international flax breeding initiatives resulted in the development of resistant cultivars. However, much remains to be learned about the mechanisms of resistance to Fusarium infection in flax. As a first step to uncover the genetic factors associated with resistance to Fusarium wilt disease, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using 297 accessions from the collection of the Federal Research Centre of the Bast Fiber Crops, Torzhok, Russia. These genotypes were infected with a highly pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lini MI39 strain; the wilt symptoms were documented in the course of three successive years. Six different single-locus models implemented in GAPIT3 R package were applied to a selected subset of 72,526 SNPs. A total of 15 QTNs (Quantitative Trait Nucleotides) were detected during at least two years of observation, while eight QTNs were found during all three years of the experiment. Of these, ten QTNs occupied a region of 640 Kb at the start of chromosome 1, while the remaining QTNs mapped to chromosomes 8, 11 and 13. All stable QTNs demonstrate a statistically significant allelic effect across 3 years of the experiment. Importantly, several QTNs spanned regions that harbored genes involved in the pathogen recognition and plant immunity response, including the KIP1-like protein (Lus10025717) and NBS-LRR protein (Lus10025852). Our results provide novel insights into the genetic architecture of flax resistance to Fusarium wilt and pinpoint potential candidate genes for further in-depth studies.

Highlights

  • Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is a valuable crop cultivated for oil and fiber

  • We evaluated the accessions for disease resistance under controlled conditions and applied genome-wide association study (GWAS) algorithms which relied on different statistical models to reveal SNP trait associations

  • Flor’s series of elegant experiments and a basis for the development of gene-for-gene theory [37], was extensively studied in the past, flax wilt, as well as mechanisms leading to the infection, currently remain unknown

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Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is a valuable crop cultivated for oil and fiber. One of the major flax pathogens affecting the world’s crop production is the fungus of the genus. The primary fungal infection occurs through the roots. The pathogen colonizes the xylem and blocks the flow of water and nutrients causing the yellowing and wilting of the leaves, vascular tissue damage and, plant death [1]. As a result of the disease outbreak, 80–100% of flax harvest could be lost

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