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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Crop Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #341240
Title: Genome-wide association mapping of canopy wilting in diverse soybean genotypes

Author
item KALER, AVJINDER - University Of Arkansas
item Ray, Jeffery - Jeff
item SCHAPAUGH, WILLIAM - Kansas State University
item KING, ANDY - University Of Arkansas
item PURCELL, LARRY - University Of Arkansas

Submitted to: Theoretical and Applied Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/10/2017
Publication Date: 7/20/2017
Citation: Kaler, A.S., Ray, J.D., Schapaugh, W.T., King, A.C., Purcell, L.C. 2017. Genome-wide association mapping of canopy wilting in diverse soybean genotypes. Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 130(10):2203-2217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-017-2951-z.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-017-2951-z

Interpretive Summary: Drought stress is a major global constraint for crop production, and slow canopy wilting has been shown to be a promising trait for improving drought tolerance. The objective of this study was to identify new genes associated with canopy wilting. A panel of 373 maturity group (MG) IV soybean genotypes was grown in multiple environments to evaluate canopy wilting. Statistical analysis of canopy wilting indicated wide variation. Over 31,000 single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) molecular markers were used for association mapping. There were 61 environment-specific SNPs associated with canopy wilting and 21 SNPs that were associated with canopy wilting in more than one environment. Together these SNPs tagged 23 chromosomal regions associated with canopy wilting. Six of these were located within previously reported regions that were found to be associated with canopy wilting in other mapping studies. Several SNPs were located within a gene or very close to genes that had a reported biological connection to transpiration or water transport. Favorable alleles from significant SNPs may be an important resource for combining genes to improve drought tolerance and for identifying parental lines for use in breeding programs.

Technical Abstract: Drought stress is a major global constraint for crop production, and slow canopy wilting has been shown to be a promising trait for improving drought tolerance. The objective of this study was to identify genetic loci associated with canopy wilting and confirm those loci with previously reported canopy wilting QTLs. A panel of 373 maturity group (MG) IV soybean genotypes was grown in multiple environments to evaluate canopy wilting. Statistical analysis of phenotype indicated wide variation for the trait, with significant effects of genotype (G), environment (E) and G x E interaction. Over 42,000 SNP markers were obtained from the Illumina Infinium SoySNP50K iSelect SNP Beadchip. After filtration for quality control, 31,260 SNPs with a minor allele frequency (MAF) = 5% were used for association mapping using the Fixed and random model Circulating Probability Unification (FarmCPU) model. There were 61 environment-specific significant SNP-canopy wilting associations, and 21 SNPs that associated with canopy wilting in more than one environment. There were 34 significant SNPs associated with canopy wilting when averaged across environments. Together these SNPs tagged 23 putative loci associated with canopy wilting. Six of the putative loci were located within previously reported chromosomal regions that were associated with canopy wilting through bi-parental mapping. Several significant SNPs were located within a gene or very close to genes that had a reported biological connection to transpiration or water transport. Favorable alleles from significant SNPs may be an important resource for pyramiding genes to improve drought tolerance and for identifying parental genotypes for use in breeding programs.