Integrating GWAS and Gene Expression Analysis Identifies Candidate Genes for Root Morphology Traits in Maize at the Seedling Stage
by
Houmiao Wang 1,2, Jie Wei 1, Pengcheng Li 1,2, Yunyun Wang 1, Zhenzhen Ge 1, Jiayi Qian 1, Yingying Fan 1, Jinran Ni 1, Yang Xu 1,2, Zefeng Yang 1,2,3 and Chenwu Xu 1,2,3,*
Houmiao Wang 1,2, Jie Wei 1, Pengcheng Li 1,2, Yunyun Wang 1, Zhenzhen Ge 1, Jiayi Qian 1, Yingying Fan 1, Jinran Ni 1, Yang Xu 1,2, Zefeng Yang 1,2,3 and Chenwu Xu 1,2,3,*
1
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/ Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education/ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding, Agricultural College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
2
Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
3
Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety of Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Genes 2019, 10(10), 773; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10100773
Received: 8 August 2019 / Revised: 25 September 2019 / Accepted: 27 September 2019 / Published: 2 October 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Insights into the Genetics of Root Development (2019))
Root system plays an essential role in water and nutrient acquisition in plants. Understanding the genetic basis of root development will be beneficial for breeding new cultivars with efficient root system to enhance resource use efficiency in maize. Here, the natural variation of 13 root and 3 shoot traits was evaluated in 297 maize inbred lines and genome-wide association mapping was conducted to identify SNPs associated with target traits. All measured traits exhibited 2.02- to 21.36-fold variations. A total of 34 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected for 13 traits, and each individual QTL explained 5.7% to 15.9% of the phenotypic variance. Three pleiotropic QTLs involving five root traits were identified; SNP_2_104416607 was associated with lateral root length (LRL), root surface area (RA), root length between 0 and 0.5mm in diameter (RL005), and total root length (TRL); SNP_2_184016997 was associated with RV and RA, and SNP_4_168917747 was associated with LRL, RA and TRL. The expression levels of candidate genes in root QTLs were evaluated by RNA-seq among three long-root lines and three short-root lines. A total of five genes that showed differential expression between the long- and short-root lines were identified as promising candidate genes for the target traits. These QTLs and the potential candidate genes are important source data to understand root development and genetic improvement of root traits in maize.
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Keywords:
root traits; maize; quantitative trait locus; GWAS; RNA-seq; candidate genes
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MDPI and ACS Style
Wang, H.; Wei, J.; Li, P.; Wang, Y.; Ge, Z.; Qian, J.; Fan, Y.; Ni, J.; Xu, Y.; Yang, Z.; Xu, C. Integrating GWAS and Gene Expression Analysis Identifies Candidate Genes for Root Morphology Traits in Maize at the Seedling Stage. Genes 2019, 10, 773.
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