Mapping loci controlling fatty acid profiles, oil and protein content by genome-wide association study in Brassica napus

AbstractGrain legumes are highly valuable plant species, as they produce seeds with high protein content. Increasing seed protein production and improving seed nutritional quality represent an agronomical challenge in order to promote plant protein consumption of a growing population. In this study, we used the genetic diversity, naturally present in Medicago truncatula, a model plant for legumes, to identify genes/loci regulating seed traits. Indeed, using sequencing data of 162 accessions from the Medicago HAPMAP collection, we performed genome-wide association study for 32 seed traits related to seed size and seed composition such as seed protein content/concentration, sulfur content/concentration. Using different GWAS and postGWAS methods, we identified 79 quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) as regulating seed size, 41 QTNs for seed composition related to nitrogen (i.e. storage protein) and sulfur (i.e. sulfur-containing amino acid) concentrations/contents. Furthermore, a strong positive correlation between seed size and protein content was revealed within the selected Medicago HAPMAP collection. In addition, several QTNs showed highly significant associations in different seed phenotypes for further functional validation studies, including one near an RNA-Binding Domain protein, which represents a valuable candidate as central regulator determining both seed size and composition. Finally, our findings in M. truncatula represent valuable resources to be exploitable in many legume crop species such as pea, common bean, and soybean due to its high synteny, which enable rapid transfer of these results into breeding programs and eventually help the improvement of legume grain production.

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Genome wide association study identifies SNPs associated with fatty acid composition in Chinese Wagyu cattle

Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology ◽

10.1186/s40104-019-0322-0 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Zezhao Wang ◽

Bo Zhu ◽

Hong Niu ◽

Wengang Zhang ◽

Ling Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fatty Acid Composition ◽

Fatty Acid ◽

Association Study ◽

Acid Composition ◽

Genome Wide Association Study ◽

Genome Wide Association ◽

Genome Wide

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Genome-wide association study uncovers genomic regions associated with grain iron, zinc and protein content in pearl millet

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-76230-y ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mahesh Pujar ◽

S. Gangaprasad ◽

Mahalingam Govindaraj ◽

Sunil S. Gangurde ◽

A. Kanatti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Association Study ◽

Protein Content ◽

Pearl Millet ◽

Genome Wide Association Study ◽

Breeding Strategy ◽

Genome Wide Association ◽

Late Embryogenesis Abundant Protein ◽

Pentatricopeptide Repeat ◽

Genome Wide ◽

Population Structure Analysis

Abstract Pearl millet hybrids biofortified with iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) promise to be part of a long-term strategy to combat micronutrient malnutrition in the arid and semi-arid tropical (SAT) regions of the world. Biofortification through molecular breeding is the way forward to achieving a rapid trait-based breeding strategy. This genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to identify significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) for Fe, Zn, and protein content (PC) for enhanced biofortification breeding. A diverse panel of 281 advanced inbred lines was evaluated for Fe, Zn, and PC over two seasons. Phenotypic evaluation revealed high variability (Fe: 32–120 mg kg−1, Zn: 19–87 mg kg−1, PC: 8–16%), heritability (hbs2 ≥ 90%) and significantly positive correlation among Fe, Zn and PC (P = 0.01), implying concurrent improvement. Based on the Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) seq assay, 58,719 highly informative SNPs were filtered for association mapping. Population structure analysis showed six major genetic groups (K = 6). A total of 78 MTAs were identified, of which 18 were associated with Fe, 43 with Zn, and 17 with PC. Four SNPs viz., Pgl04_64673688, Pgl05_135500493, Pgl05_144482656, and Pgl07_101483782 located on chromosomes Pgl04 (1), Pgl05 (2) and Pgl07 (1), respectively were co-segregated for Fe and Zn. Promising genes, ‘Late embryogenesis abundant protein’, ‘Myb domain’, ‘pentatricopeptide repeat’, and ‘iron ion binding’ coded by 8 SNPs were identified. The SNPs/genes identified in the present study presents prospects for genomics assisted biofortification breeding in pearl millet.

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