Articles
Unravelling the genetics of resistance to airborne fungal diseases in cultivated strawberries using the genome-wide association study (GWAS)
Article number
1412_24
Pages
151 – 158
Language
English
Abstract
The production of the cultivated octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa), which has been crowned as the most popular small fruit and berry species, has been increasing in the last 20 years.
Like all crops, strawberries are susceptible to a several fungal pathogens such as Podosphaera aphanis, which causes powdery mildew disease, that is one of the major threats to strawberry productivity.
In order to reduce productivity losses caused by these fungi, farmers are forced to adopt expensive and environmentally harmful chemical treatments.
The best course of action would be to grow cultivars that are resistant to these fungi to address this problem and promote more sustainable agriculture.
To identify genomic regions that contributes to plant resistance and applied Marker Assisted Breeding, we carried out a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using a collection of 304 strawberry cultivars.
These cultivars were cultivated for two consecutive years, 2021 and 2022, in two different locations, Le Barp, Bordeaux (FR), and Cartaya, Huelva (SP), with two replicates in each location both years.
The distribution of cultivars within each replicate was completely random.
Plants were phenotyped weekly for powdery mildew infection at each replicate.
The cultivar collection was genotyped using the 50K Affymetrix SNP array.
To perform the association analysis, a powerful tool for GWAS research with different statistical methods, the GAPIT R package, was used.
The FR and SP data analysis of all the samples together show different quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) detected for powdery mildew resistance in both years.
At the end of the Fvb4-4 chromosome, a strong association was detected to this trait, as well as in other regions (60 SNPs in total). QTN regions were therefore scanned for candidate genes that might be responsible specifically for resistance to powdery mildew disease or other fungi diseases.
The confirmation of QTNs will be carried out among new populations generated between susceptible and resistant or tolerant lines, to determine the most appropriate molecular markers for marker-assisted breeding.
Like all crops, strawberries are susceptible to a several fungal pathogens such as Podosphaera aphanis, which causes powdery mildew disease, that is one of the major threats to strawberry productivity.
In order to reduce productivity losses caused by these fungi, farmers are forced to adopt expensive and environmentally harmful chemical treatments.
The best course of action would be to grow cultivars that are resistant to these fungi to address this problem and promote more sustainable agriculture.
To identify genomic regions that contributes to plant resistance and applied Marker Assisted Breeding, we carried out a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using a collection of 304 strawberry cultivars.
These cultivars were cultivated for two consecutive years, 2021 and 2022, in two different locations, Le Barp, Bordeaux (FR), and Cartaya, Huelva (SP), with two replicates in each location both years.
The distribution of cultivars within each replicate was completely random.
Plants were phenotyped weekly for powdery mildew infection at each replicate.
The cultivar collection was genotyped using the 50K Affymetrix SNP array.
To perform the association analysis, a powerful tool for GWAS research with different statistical methods, the GAPIT R package, was used.
The FR and SP data analysis of all the samples together show different quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) detected for powdery mildew resistance in both years.
At the end of the Fvb4-4 chromosome, a strong association was detected to this trait, as well as in other regions (60 SNPs in total). QTN regions were therefore scanned for candidate genes that might be responsible specifically for resistance to powdery mildew disease or other fungi diseases.
The confirmation of QTNs will be carried out among new populations generated between susceptible and resistant or tolerant lines, to determine the most appropriate molecular markers for marker-assisted breeding.
Authors
G. Rabie, K. Alexiou, P. Domínguez, M. Mnejja, A. Monfort
Keywords
genotyping, disease resistance, quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs), breeding lines, phenotyping, Fragaria × ananassa
Online Articles (65)