Plant Biotech J:华中农大张献龙课题组等解析陆地棉重要性状的遗传
2017年4月12日，植物学国际权威期刊《Plant Biotechnology Journal》在线发表了华中农业大学棉花遗传研究团队张献龙教授和林忠旭教授合作的题为“Population structure and genetic basis of the agronomic traits of upland cotton in China revealed by a genome-wide association study using high-density SNPs”的研究论文。黄聪博士为论文第一作者，张献龙教授和林忠旭教授为共同通讯作者。文章全面地揭示了中国国内的陆地棉种质资源的遗传结构以及重要农艺性状的遗传基础，对进一步开展棉花遗传学研究以及指导棉花改良育种具有重要意义。
棉花是最重要的纤维经济作物，该团队多年来致力于棉花的分子遗传学研究工作。此次研究广泛收集了国内503份陆地棉种质资源，利用63K棉花芯片以及所对应的高密度遗传图谱对其进行基因分型，研究发现该陆地棉群可以明显地划分为3个亚群，而且亚群的划分与地理来源和品种育成时期并没有直接的联系，推测国内各地区间存在棉花的引种及基因的交流。结合2年4点8环境的表型数据，对开花期、产量和纤维品质等共16个棉花农艺性状进行全基因组的关联分析，共检测到160个相关联的QTL以及158个候选区间，找到了一个棉花衣分相关的候选基因(Gh_D08G2376)。在检测到的25个候选区间内，找到了19个相关的已报道的棉花功能基因;通过组织表达模式分析，在86个候选区间内找到了共336个组织特异表达的基因，这些结果为后续基因挖掘及功能研究提供了重要的参考依据。此外，研究发现部分QTL能够控制多个性状，作者通过绘制网络图清晰地展示性状之间的联系及QTL的多效性。
原文链接：
Population structure and GENEtic basis of the agronomic traits of upland cotton in China revealed by a genome-wide association study using high-density SNPs
原文摘要：
Gossypium hirsutum L. represents the largest source of textile fibre, and China is one of the largest cotton-producing and cotton-consuming countries in the world. To investigate the genetic architecture of the agronomic traits of upland cotton in China, a diverse and nationwide population containing 503 G. hirsutum accessions was collected for a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 16 agronomic traits. The accessions were planted in four places from 2012 to 2013 for phenotyping. The CottonSNP63K array and a published high-density map based on this array were used for genotyping. The 503 G. hirsutum accessions were divided into three subpopulations based on 11 975 quantified polymorphic single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). By comparing the genetic structure and phenotypic variation among three genetic subpopulations, seven geographic distributions and four breeding periods, we found that geographic distribution and breeding period were not the determinants of genetic structure. In addition, no obvious phenotypic differentiations were found among the three subpopulations, even though they had different genetic backgrounds. A total of 324 SNPs and 160 candidate quantitative trait loci (QTL) regions were identified as significantly associated with the 16 agronomic traits. A network was established for multieffects in QTLs and interassociations among traits. Thirty-eight associated regions had pleiotropic effects controlling more than one trait. One candidate gene, Gh_D08G2376, was speculated to control the lint percentage (LP). This GWAS is the first report using high-resolution SNPs in upland cotton in China to comprehensively investigate agronomic traits, and it provides a fundamental resource for cotton genetic research and breeding.
作者：张献龙
