The Genetic Architecture for Phenotypic Plasticity of the Rice Grain Ionome.

Yongjun Tan,Jieqiang Zhou,Liang Sun,Jiurong Wang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2020.00012

Yongjun Tan, Jieqiang Zhou + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00012

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Abstract

The ionome of the rice grain is crucial for the health of populations that consume rice as a staple food. However, the contribution of phenotypic plasticity to the variation of rice grain ionome and the genetic architecture of phenotypic plasticity are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the rice grain ionome of a rice diversity panel in up to eight environments. A considerable proportion of phenotypic variance can be attributed to phenotypic plasticity. Then, phenotypic plasticity and mean phenotype were quantified using Bayesian Finlay-Wilkinson regression, and a significant correlation between them was observed. However, the genetic architecture of mean phenotype was distinct from that of phenotypic plasticity. Also, the correlation between them was mainly attributed to the phenotypic divergence between rice subspecies. Furthermore, the results of whole-genome regression analysis showed that the genetic loci related to phenotypic plasticity can explain a considerable proportion of the phenotypic variance in some environments, especially for Cd, Cu, Mn, and Zn. Our study not only sheds light on the genetic architecture of phenotypic plasticity of the rice grain ionome but also suggests that the genetic loci which related to phenotypic plasticity are valuable in rice grain ionome improvement breeding.

Highlights

The ability of one genotype to produce multiple phenotypes in response to environmental change has been termed “phenotypic plasticity” (Bradshaw, 1965; Via and Lande, 1985; Des Marais et al, 2013; Kusmec et al, 2018)
The genetic architecture for phenotypic plasticity of rice grain ionome was investigated for the first time using a rice diversity panel
Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that: (1) A considerable proportion of the rice grain ionome variation could be attributed to the variation of phenotypic plasticity; (2) The genetic architecture of phenotypic plasticity was quite different from that of mean phenotype; (3) The genetic loci involved in phenotypic plasticity of rice grain ionome can be utilized in breeding, especially for Cd, Cu, Mn, and Zn

Summary

Introduction

The ability of one genotype to produce multiple phenotypes in response to environmental change has been termed “phenotypic plasticity” (Bradshaw, 1965; Via and Lande, 1985; Des Marais et al, 2013; Kusmec et al, 2018). Variation in phenotypic plasticity in a diversity panel defines the genotype-by-environment interaction (G×E) (Bradshaw, 1965; Des Marais et al, 2013). The prominence of phenotypic plasticity in crops depends on traits and environmental scenarios. Lower plasticity in disease resistance is crucial to broadly-adaptability cultivars, while phenotypic plasticity can be harnessed to improve the cultivars' yield performance in determined environmental scenarios with an adequate supply of water and fertilizer. The prerequisite for utilizing phenotypic plasticity in breeding practice is investigating the effect of Phenotypic Plasticity of Rice Ionome phenotypic plasticity on phenotypic variance and dissecting the genetic architecture for phenotypic plasticity

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