Abstract
Controlling elemental composition is critical for plant growth and development as well as the nutrition of humans who utilize plants for food. Uncovering the genetic architecture underlying mineral ion homeostasis in plants is a critical first step towards understanding the biochemical networks that regulate a plant's elemental composition (ionome). Natural accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana provide a rich source of genetic diversity that leads to phenotypic differences. We analyzed the concentrations of 17 different elements in 12 A. thaliana accessions and three recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations grown in several different environments using high-throughput inductively coupled plasma- mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Significant differences were detected between the accessions for most elements and we identified over a hundred QTLs for elemental accumulation in the RIL populations. Altering the environment the plants were grown in had a strong effect on the correlations between different elements and the QTLs controlling elemental accumulation. All ionomic data presented is publicly available at www.ionomicshub.org.
Highlights
Genetic variation occurring among and within natural populations of Arabidopsis thaliana can be used as a tool for gene discovery [1,2,3]
A. thaliana has a wide-geographic distribution, producing a large and diverse group of natural populations, many of which have been collected as accessions that are curated by the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC)
An ANOVA analysis of the accumulation in the accessions reveals that variation in of the 17 elements measured are under genetic control within the population (Table 1, Table 2, Table S1A)
Summary
Genetic variation occurring among and within natural populations of Arabidopsis thaliana can be used as a tool for gene discovery [1,2,3]. A. thaliana has a wide-geographic distribution, producing a large and diverse group of natural populations, many of which have been collected as accessions that are curated by the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC). Considerable variation for such traits as resistance to biotic and abiotic stress, development, and metabolism has been described (for recent reviews see [3,4]). Observed variation between accessions can be qualitative, defined by phenotypic distributions that fall into discrete classes, and is caused by one or two major loci. Variation can be quantitative, defined by a continuous phenotypic distribution, caused by the combined effect of multiple loci. Small populations are useful for identifying loci if a trait is controlled by a few loci with large phenotypic effect; more complex traits controlled by multiple loci with relatively small phenotypic effect will require large experimental populations
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