High Resolution Consensus Mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci for Fiber Strength, Length and Micronaire on Chromosome 25 of the Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.).

Zhen Zhang,Zhen Zhang,Yuzhen Shi,Quanwei Lu,Aiying Liu,Juwu Gong,Junwen Li,Yunna Tan,Yunna Tan,Youlu Yuan,Qun Ge,Wankui Gong,Tingting Chen,Tingting Chen,Koffi Kibalou Palanga,Koffi Kibalou Palanga,Jamshed Muhammad,Jamshed Muhammad,Linyang Sun,Xiaoying Deng,Fei Jia,Fei Jia,Juan Cai,Juan Cai,Haihong Shang,Wei Li

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135430

Abstract

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important agricultural crop that provides renewable natural fiber resources for the global textile industry. Technological developments in the textile industry and improvements in human living standards have increased the requirement for supplies and better quality cotton. Upland cotton 0–153 is an elite cultivar harboring strong fiber strength genes. To conduct quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping for fiber quality in 0–153, we developed a population of 196 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from a cross between 0–153 and sGK9708. The fiber quality traits in 11 environments were measured and a genetic linkage map of chromosome 25 comprising 210 loci was constructed using this RIL population, mainly using simple sequence repeat markers and single nucleotide polymorphism markers. QTLs were identified across diverse environments using the composite interval mapping method. A total of 37 QTLs for fiber quality traits were identified on chromosome 25, of which 17 were stably expressed in at least in two environments. A stable fiber strength QTL, qFS-chr25-4, which was detected in seven environments and was located in the marker interval between CRI-SNP120491 and BNL2572, could explain 6.53%–11.83% of the observed phenotypic variations. Meta-analysis also confirmed the above QTLs with previous reports. Application of these QTLs could contribute to improving fiber quality and provide information for marker-assisted selection.

Highlights

Cotton is an important agricultural crop around the world, providing a renewable natural fiber source for the textile industry
Of all the simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers mapped in the current linkage map, the SWU primer pairs were the most recently developed and reported by Tang et al
[21] Most of the other SSR primer pair sets have been frequently used in genetic map construction [2, 19, 21,48,49]

Summary

Introduction

Cotton is an important agricultural crop around the world, providing a renewable natural fiber source for the textile industry. Shao et al [20] identified 77 QTLs for five fiber quality traits in three populations, including 46 significant QTLs and 31 putative QTLs, which were mapped to 24 chromosomes. Applications of these findings could result in significant improvements in cotton breeding efficiency and shorten the breeding cycle. A map was constructed with using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population developed from a cross between upland cotton 0–153 and sGK9708 Using this map, we identified two major QTLs for fiber strength, two QTLs for fiber length (upper half mean length, FL), and one QTL for fiber micronaire (FM) on chromosome 25 (chr25) [23]. A high-resolution map that harbors more markers, including simple sequence repeat (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, without any large gaps, especially in the QTL positions, would increase the accuracy of the QTLs and aid in the selection of markers in subsequent breeding programs

Materials and Methods

Results

Discussion