Portuguese Common Bean Natural Variation Helps to Clarify the Genetic Architecture of the Legume's Nutritional Composition and Protein Quality

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 26
• Main Authors: Mendes, Francisco A, Leitão, Susana T, Correia, Verónica, Mecha, Elsa, Rubiales, Diego, Bronze, Maria Rosário, Vaz Patto, Maria Carlota
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22.12.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Amino acids; ash; Beans; Breeding; Carbohydrates; Climate change; Composition; Consumers; Dietary fiber; Dietary minerals; fat; fiber; Food; Food quality; Gene mapping; Gene polymorphism; Genome-wide association studies; Genomes; Genomics; Genotype-environment interactions; Germplasm; GWAS; Legumes; Micronutrients; Moisture resistance; Molecular modelling; Nucleotides; Nutritive value; Phaseolus vulgaris; Polymorphism; Protein composition; Protein sources; Proteins; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Trypsin; Trypsin inhibitors; Portugal; carbohydrates; fiber; GWAS; Phaseolus vulgaris; resistant starch; amino acids; ash; fat; trypsin inhibitor; nutritional quality
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants11010026

Common bean is a nutritious food legume widely appreciated by consumers worldwide. It is a staple food in Latin America, and a component of the Mediterranean diet, being an affordable source of protein with high potential as a gourmet food. Breeding for nutritional quality, including both macro and micronutrients, and meeting organoleptic consumers' preferences is a difficult task which is facilitated by uncovering the genetic basis of related traits. This study explored the diversity of 106 Portuguese common bean accessions, under two contrasting environments, to gain insight into the genetic basis of nutritional composition (ash, carbohydrates, fat, fiber, moisture, protein, and resistant starch contents) and protein quality (amino acid contents and trypsin inhibitor activity) traits through a genome-wide association study. Single-nucleotide polymorphism-trait associations were tested using linear mixed models accounting for the accessions' genetic relatedness. Mapping resolution to the gene level was achieved in 56% of the cases, with 102 candidate genes proposed for 136 genomic regions associated with trait variation. Only one marker-trait association was stable across environments, highlighting the associations' environment-specific nature and the importance of genotype × environment interaction for crops' local adaptation and quality. This study provides novel information to better understand the molecular mechanisms regulating the nutritional quality in common bean and promising molecular tools to aid future breeding efforts to answer consumers' concerns.