Fostered and left behind alleles in peanut: interspecific QTL mapping reveals footprints of domestication and useful natural variation for breeding

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Polyploidy can result in genetic bottlenecks, especially for species of monophyletic origin. Cultivated peanut is an allotetraploid harbouring limited genetic diversity, likely resulting from the combined effects of its single origin and domestication. Peanut wild relatives represent an important source of novel alleles that could be used to broaden the genetic basis of the cultigen. Using an advanced backcross population developed with a synthetic amphidiploid as donor of wild alleles, under two water regimes, we conducted a detailed QTL study for several traits involved in peanut productivity and adaptation as well as domestication.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 95 QTLs were mapped in the two water treatments. About half of the QTL positive effects were associated with alleles of the wild parent and several QTLs involved in yield components were specific to the water-limited treatment. QTLs detected for the same trait mapped to non-homeologous genomic regions, suggesting differential control in subgenomes as a consequence of polyploidization. The noteworthy clustering of QTLs for traits involved in seed and pod size and in plant and pod morphology suggests, as in many crops, that a small number of loci have contributed to peanut domestication.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In our study, we have identified QTLs that differentiated cultivated peanut from its wild relatives as well as wild alleles that contributed positive variation to several traits involved in peanut productivity and adaptation. These findings offer novel opportunities for peanut improvement using wild relatives.</p

Genetic mapping of wild introgressions into cultivated peanut: a way toward enlarging the genetic basis of a recent allotetraploid

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Peanut (<it>Arachis hypogaea </it>L.) is widely used as a food and cash crop around the world. It is considered to be an allotetraploid (2n = 4x = 40) originated from a single hybridization event between two wild diploids. The most probable hypothesis gave <it>A. duranensis </it>as the wild donor of the A genome and <it>A. ipaënsis </it>as the wild donor of the B genome. A low level of molecular polymorphism is found in cultivated germplasm and up to date few genetic linkage maps have been published. The utilization of wild germplasm in breeding programs has received little attention due to the reproductive barriers between wild and cultivated species and to the technical difficulties encountered in making large number of crosses. We report here the development of a SSR based genetic map and the analysis of genome-wide segment introgressions into the background of a cultivated variety through the utilization of a synthetic amphidiploid between <it>A. duranensis </it>and <it>A. ipaënsis</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two hundred ninety eight (298) loci were mapped in 21 linkage groups (LGs), spanning a total map distance of 1843.7 cM with an average distance of 6.1 cM between adjacent markers. The level of polymorphism observed between the parent of the amphidiploid and the cultivated variety is consistent with <it>A. duranensis </it>and <it>A. ipaënsis </it>being the most probable donor of the A and B genomes respectively. The synteny analysis between the A and B genomes revealed an overall good collinearity of the homeologous LGs. The comparison with the diploid and tetraploid maps shed new light on the evolutionary forces that contributed to the divergence of the A and B genome species and raised the question of the classification of the B genome species. Structural modifications such as chromosomal segment inversions and a major translocation event prior to the tetraploidisation of the cultivated species were revealed. Marker assisted selection of BC₁F₁and then BC₂F₁lines carrying the desirable donor segment with the best possible return to the background of the cultivated variety provided a set of lines offering an optimal distribution of the wild introgressions.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The genetic map developed, allowed the synteny analysis of the A and B genomes, the comparison with diploid and tetraploid maps and the analysis of the introgression segments from the wild synthetic into the background of a cultivated variety. The material we have produced in this study should facilitate the development of advanced backcross and CSSL breeding populations for the improvement of cultivated peanut.</p

Evidence of Genomic Exchanges between Homeologous Chromosomes in a Cross of Peanut with Newly Synthetized Allotetraploid Hybrids

Cultivated peanut and synthetics are allotetraploids (2n = 4x = 40) with two homeologous sets of chromosomes. Meiosis in allotetraploid peanut is generally thought to show diploid-like behavior. However, a recent study pointed out the occurrence of recombination between homeologous chromosomes, especially when synthetic allotetraploids are used, challenging the view of disomic inheritance in peanut. In this study, we investigated the meiotic behavior of allotetraploid peanut using 380 SSR markers and 90 F2 progeny derived from the cross between Arachis hypogaea cv Fleur 11 (AABB) and ISATGR278-18 (AAKK), a synthetic allotetraploid that harbors a K-genome that was reported to pair with the cultivated B-genome during meiosis. Segregation analysis of SSR markers showed 42 codominant SSRs with unexpected null bands among some progeny. Chi-square tests for these loci deviate from the expected 1:2:1 Mendelian ratio under disomic inheritance. A linkage map of 357 codominant loci aligned on 20 linkage groups (LGs) with a total length of 1728 cM, averaging 5.1 cM between markers, was developed. Among the 10 homeologous sets of LGs, one set consisted of markers that all segregated in a polysomic-like pattern, six in a likely disomic pattern and the three remaining in a mixed pattern with disomic and polysomic loci clustered on the same LG. Moreover, we reported a substitution of homeologous chromosomes in some progeny. Our results suggest that the homeologous recombination events occurred between the A and K genomes in the newly synthesized allotetraploid and have been highlighted in the progeny. Homeologous exchanges are rarely observed in tetraploid peanut and have not yet been reported for AAKK and AABB genomes. The implications of these results on peanut breeding are discussed

Construction of chromosome segment substitution lines in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) using a wild synthetic and QTL mapping for plant morphology

Chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) are powerful QTL mapping populations that have been used to elucidate the molecular basis of interesting traits of wild species. Cultivated peanut is an allotetraploid with limited genetic diversity. Capturing the genetic diversity from peanut wild relatives is an important objective in many peanut breeding programs. In this study, we used a marker-assisted backcrossing strategy to produce a population of 122 CSSLs from the cross between the wild synthetic allotetraploid (A. ipae¨nsis6A. duranensis)4x and the cultivated Fleur11 variety. The 122 CSSLs offered a broad coverage of the peanut genome, with target wild chromosome segments averaging 39.2 cM in length. As a demonstration of the utility of these lines, four traits were evaluated in a subset of 80 CSSLs. A total of 28 lines showed significant differences from Fleur11. The line6trait significant associations were assigned to 42 QTLs: 14 for plant growth habit, 15 for height of the main stem, 12 for plant spread and one for flower color. Among the 42 QTLs, 37 were assigned to genomic regions and three QTL positions were considered putative. One important finding arising from this QTL analysis is that peanut growth habit is a complex trait that is governed by several QTLs with different effects. The CSSL population developed in this study has proved efficient for deciphering the molecular basis of trait variations and will be useful to the peanut scientific community for future QTL mapping studies. (Résumé d'auteur