The Horticulture Journal
Online ISSN : 2189-0110
Print ISSN : 2189-0102
ISSN-L : 2189-0102
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Identification of QTLs for Agronomic Traits in the Japanese Chestnut (Castanea crenata Sieb. et Zucc.) Breeding
Sogo NishioShingo TerakamiToshimi MatsumotoToshiya YamamotoNorio TakadaHidenori KatoYuichi KatayoseToshihiro Saito
Author information
JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS FULL-TEXT HTML
Supplementary material

2018 Volume 87 Issue 1 Pages 43-54

Details
Abstract

The chestnut (genus Castanea) has a long juvenile phase, and breeders have to wait three years or more to evaluate nut traits. Therefore, molecular markers associated with genes of interest are required to speed the selection process in chestnut breeding programs. Genetic linkage maps of the Japanese chestnut were constructed using two breeding populations derived from crosses between ‘Kunimi’ and breeding line ‘709-034’ (Kx709), and between ‘Porotan’ and ‘Tsukuba-43’ (Px43). Maps of the four parents and two integrated maps (one representing each cross) were constructed using 443 simple sequence repeat markers (SSRs) and 554 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers. In the Kx709 integrated map, which was the most saturated of the six maps, 12 linkage groups were identified that covered 668.1 cM with an average distance of 0.8 cM between loci. Using anchor SSRs, these six maps were successfully aligned to the Chinese chestnut consensus map. We evaluated eight important traits, including several nut traits, to identify molecular markers associated with these traits. At least one significant quantitative trait locus (QTL) was detected for each of the eight traits (21 in total). Logarithm of odds (LOD) values and phenotypic variance explained by these QTLs ranged from 2.60 to 7.90 and from 11.6% to 29.1%, respectively. In the Kx709 population analysis, several QTLs for nut harvesting date (HARVEST) and pericarp splitting (SPLIT) were detected. Under the assumption that the effects of these QTLs are additive, the percentage of total phenotypic variance explained by the combination of QTLs was high for both HARVEST (47.5%–60.8%) and SPLIT (33.4%–41.7%). Because these mapping populations and their parents are essential materials for Japanese chestnut breeding programs, these QTLs will soon be used for marker-assisted selection to improve breeding efficiency.

Content from these authors
© 2018 The Japanese Society for Horticultural Science (JSHS), All rights reserved.
Previous article Next article
feedback
Top