QTL‐seq for rapid identification of candidate genes for 100‐seed weight and root/total plant dry weight ratio under rainfed conditions in chickpea

Vikas Singh, Aamir Khan, Deepa Jaganathan, Mahendar Thudi, Manish Roorkiwal, Hiroki Takagi, Garg Vanika, Vinay Kumar, Annapurna Chitikineni, Pooran Gaur, Tim Sutton, Ryohei Terauchi, Rajeev Varshney. (30/11/2016). QTL‐seq for rapid identification of candidate genes for 100‐seed weight and root/total plant dry weight ratio under rainfed conditions in chickpea. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 14 (11), pp. 2110-2119.

Abstract

Terminal drought is a major constraint to chickpea productivity. Two component traits responsible for reduction in yield under drought stress include reduction in seeds size and root length/root density. QTL-seq approach, therefore, was used to identify candidate genomic regions for 100-seed weight (100SDW) and total dry root weight to total plant dry weight ratio (RTR) under rainfed conditions. Genomewide SNP proﬁling of extreme phenotypic bulks from the ICC 4958 9 ICC 1882 population identiﬁed two signiﬁcant genomic regions, one on CaLG01 (1.08 Mb) and another on CaLG04 (2.7 Mb) linkage groups for 100SDW. Similarly, one signiﬁcant genomic region on CaLG04 (1.10 Mb) was identiﬁed for RTR. Comprehensive analysis revealed four and ﬁve putative candidate genes associated with 100SDW and RTR, respectively. Subsequently, two genes (Ca_04364 and Ca_04607) for 100SDW and one gene (Ca_04586) for RTR were validated using CAPS/dCAPS markers. Identiﬁed candidate genomic regions and genes may be useful for molecular breeding for chickpea improvement.