Dissecting the genetic architecture of root-related traits in a grafted wild Vitis berlandieri population for grapevine rootstock breeding

• Published in: Theoretical and applied genetics Vol. 136; no. 11; p. 223
• Main Authors: Blois, Louis, de Miguel, Marina, Bert, Pierre-François, Ollat, Nathalie, Rubio, Bernadette, Voss-Fels, Kai P., Schmid, Joachim, Marguerit, Elisa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.11.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Agricultural research; Agriculture; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Genetic aspects; Genetic diversity; genetic variation; Genome-wide association studies; genome-wide association study; Genomes; Genotypes; Grafting; Grapes; Heritability; Hybrids; Life Sciences; Methods; Original; Original Article; phenotype; Phenotyping; Physiological aspects; Plant Biochemistry; Plant breeding; Plant Breeding/Biotechnology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Population studies; Production processes; Quantitative genetics; Quantitative trait loci; Roots; Roots (Botany); Rootstocks; species; variance; Vitis berlandieri; Vitis cinerea var. helleri; Vitis riparia; Vitis rupestris; Wild type; France
• DOI: 10.1007/s00122-023-04472-1
• ISSN: 0040-5752; 1432-2242

In woody perennial plants, quantitative genetics and association studies remain scarce for root-related traits, due to the time required to obtain mature plants and the complexity of phenotyping. In grapevine, a grafted cultivated plant, most of the rootstocks used are hybrids between American Vitis species ( V. rupestris , V. riparia , and V. berlandieri ). In this study, we used a wild population of an American Vitis species ( V. berlandieri ) to analyze the genetic architecture of the root-related traits of rootstocks in a grafted context. We studied a population consisting of 211 genotypes, with one to five replicates each ( n  = 846 individuals), plus four commercial rootstocks as control genotypes (110R, 5BB, Börner, and SO4). After two independent years of experimentation, the best linear unbiased estimates method revealed root-related traits with a moderate-to-high heritability (0.36–0.82) and coefficient of genetic variation (0.15–0.45). A genome-wide association study was performed with the BLINK model, leading to the detection of 11 QTL associated with four root-related traits (one QTL was associated with the total number of roots, four were associated with the number of small roots (< 1 mm in diameter), two were associated with the number of medium-sized roots (1 mm < diameter < 2 mm), and four were associated with mean diameter) accounting for up to 25.1% of the variance. Three genotypes were found to have better root-related trait performances than the commercial rootstocks and therefore constitute possible new candidates for use in grapevine rootstock breeding programs.