Multi-environment QTL analysis of plant and flower morphological traits in tetraploid rose

• Published in: Theoretical and applied genetics Vol. 131; no. 10; pp. 2055 - 2069
• Main Authors: Bourke, Peter M., Gitonga, Virginia W., Voorrips, Roeland E., Visser, Richard G. F., Krens, Frans A., Maliepaard, Chris
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2018; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; breeding programs; chromosome mapping; chromosomes; diploidy; EPS; Exploration; flowers; Genetic analysis; Genetic aspects; Genetic control; Genomics; Genotype & phenotype; Germplasm; Kenya; Laboratorium voor Plantenveredeling; Laboratory of Plant Breeding; Life Sciences; Morphology; Morphology (Biology); Netherlands; Original; Original Article; Ornamental plants; PBR Kwantitatieve aspecten; PBR Ornamentals, tissue culture and gene transfer; PBR Quantitative aspects of Plant Breeding; PBR Siergewassen, Tissue Culture; PE&RC; petioles; Physiological aspects; Plant Biochemistry; Plant Breeding; Plant Breeding/Biotechnology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; plant spines; Ploidy; Polyploidy; Quantitative trait loci; Roses; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; tetraploidy; WUR PB Kwantitatieve Aspecten; WUR PB Siergewassen, Tissue Culture; Kenya; Netherlands
• ISSN: 0040-5752; 1432-2242; 1432-2242
• DOI: 10.1007/s00122-018-3132-4

Key message Rose morphological traits such as prickles or petal number are influenced by a few key QTL which were detected across different growing environments—necessary for genomics-assisted selection in non-target environments. Rose, one of the world’s most-loved and commercially important ornamental plants, is predominantly tetraploid, possessing four rather than two copies of each chromosome. This condition complicates genetic analysis, and so the majority of previous genetic studies in rose have been performed at the diploid level. However, there may be advantages to performing genetic analyses at the tetraploid level, not least because this is the ploidy level of most breeding germplasm. Here, we apply recently developed methods for quantitative trait loci (QTL) detection in a segregating tetraploid rose population ( F 1  = 151) to unravel the genetic control of a number of key morphological traits. These traits were measured both in the Netherlands and Kenya. Since ornamental plant breeding and selection are increasingly being performed at locations other than the production sites, environment-neutral QTL are required to maximise the effectiveness of breeding programmes. We detected a number of robust, multi-environment QTL for such traits as stem and petiole prickles, petal number and stem length that were localised on the recently developed high-density SNP linkage map for rose. Our work explores the complex genetic architecture of these important morphological traits at the tetraploid level, while helping to advance the methods for marker–trait exploration in polyploid species.