Transmission of important chromosomal regions under selection revealed in rice pedigree breeding programs

• Published in: Molecular breeding Vol. 30; no. 2; pp. 717 - 729
• Main Authors: Zhou, Jiangbo, Zhang, Yuan-Ming, Lü, Haiyan, You, Aiqing, Zhu, Lili, He, Guangcun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.08.2012; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agronomy; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Crop yield; Cultivars; Gene mapping; Genetic analysis; Genetic improvement; Genomics; Genotyping; Life Sciences; Mapping; Marker-assisted selection; Molecular biology; Natural populations; Oryza sativa; Pedigree; Plant biology; Plant breeding; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology; Plant reproduction; Plant Sciences; Population studies; Quantitative trait loci; Rice; Founder parent; Pedigree analysis; QTL mapping; Rice
• ISSN: 1380-3743; 1572-9788
• DOI: 10.1007/s11032-011-9657-8

Genetic analysis across a whole plant genome based on pedigree information offers considerable potential for enhancing genetic gain from plant breeding programs through quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and marker-assisted selection. Here, we report its application for graphically genotyping varieties used in Chinese japonica rice ( Oryza sativa L.) pedigree breeding programs. We identified 34 important chromosomal regions from the founder parent that are under selection in the breeding programs, and by comparing donor genomic regions that are under selection with QTL locations of agronomic traits, we found that QTL clustered in important genomic regions, in accordance with association analyses of natural populations and other previous studies. The convergence of genomic regions under selection with QTL locations suggests that donor genomic regions harboring key genes/QTL for important agronomic traits have been selected by plant breeders since the 1950s from the founder rice plants. The results provide better understanding of the effects of selection in breeding programs on the traits of rice cultivars. They also provide potentially valuable information for enhancing rice breeding programs through screening candidate parents for targeted molecular markers, improving crop yield potential and identifying suitable genetic material for use in future breeding programs.