Association mapping and candidate gene identification for drought tolerance in sorghum

Introduction: Water is essential for plant growth, and drought is one of the most predominant constraints on crop yield. Sorghum is a well-known droughttolerant crop model, and sorghum landraces possess novel alleles for local adaptation. Methods: In this study, we evaluated a sorghum mini core pane...

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Main Authors: Huiting Min, Kang Wang, Tiantian Wang, Xinxiu Cheng, Habyarimana, Ephrem, Yongfei Wang, Die Hu, Yi-Hong Wang, Lihua Wang
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Frontiers in Plant Science 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179232
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author Huiting Min
Kang Wang
Tiantian Wang
Xinxiu Cheng
Habyarimana, Ephrem
Yongfei Wang
Die Hu
Yi-Hong Wang
Lihua Wang
author_browse Die Hu
Habyarimana, Ephrem
Huiting Min
Kang Wang
Lihua Wang
Tiantian Wang
Xinxiu Cheng
Yi-Hong Wang
Yongfei Wang
author_facet Huiting Min
Kang Wang
Tiantian Wang
Xinxiu Cheng
Habyarimana, Ephrem
Yongfei Wang
Die Hu
Yi-Hong Wang
Lihua Wang
author_sort Huiting Min
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Introduction: Water is essential for plant growth, and drought is one of the most predominant constraints on crop yield. Sorghum is a well-known droughttolerant crop model, and sorghum landraces possess novel alleles for local adaptation. Methods: In this study, we evaluated a sorghum mini core panel of 239 landraces sampled globally for shoot and root growth under simulated drought conditions using 10% and 20% polyethylene glycol (PEG) in 2020 and 2024, and measured drought tolerance using the seedling tolerance coefficient (STC). Results and discussion: Phenotypic analysis showed that more accessions produced more roots than longer roots when exposed to 10% PEG; however, at 20% PEG, more accessions produced longer roots than more roots, reflecting the adaptability of some accessions to drought stress. However, PEG reduced shoot growth in all accessions in both years. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 32 growth and 19 STC traits identified 22 loci, 19 of which were mapped to the STC traits, and 17 of these 19 were associated with STC of shoot weight. Eleven of the 22 loci were collocated with 23 previously identified mapped drought-related quantitative trait loci (QTLs); 15 of these 23 QTLs were mapped to green leaf area, total number of green leaves, or chlorophyll content. We also found 19 candidate genes for 12 of the 22 loci. Five of those genes showed either preferential or specific expression in the roots according to GeneAtlas v2. One candidate gene from a locus colocated with a previously mapped chlorophyll fluorescence QTL has been shown to increase chlorophyll fluorescence in maize in another study. The results of this study lay the foundation for further characterizing the sorghum mini core panel for novel drought-tolerant genes.
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spelling CGSpace1792322025-12-24T02:07:05Z Association mapping and candidate gene identification for drought tolerance in sorghum Huiting Min Kang Wang Tiantian Wang Xinxiu Cheng Habyarimana, Ephrem Yongfei Wang Die Hu Yi-Hong Wang Lihua Wang mini core drought tolerance genes crop yield crop improvement Introduction: Water is essential for plant growth, and drought is one of the most predominant constraints on crop yield. Sorghum is a well-known droughttolerant crop model, and sorghum landraces possess novel alleles for local adaptation. Methods: In this study, we evaluated a sorghum mini core panel of 239 landraces sampled globally for shoot and root growth under simulated drought conditions using 10% and 20% polyethylene glycol (PEG) in 2020 and 2024, and measured drought tolerance using the seedling tolerance coefficient (STC). Results and discussion: Phenotypic analysis showed that more accessions produced more roots than longer roots when exposed to 10% PEG; however, at 20% PEG, more accessions produced longer roots than more roots, reflecting the adaptability of some accessions to drought stress. However, PEG reduced shoot growth in all accessions in both years. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 32 growth and 19 STC traits identified 22 loci, 19 of which were mapped to the STC traits, and 17 of these 19 were associated with STC of shoot weight. Eleven of the 22 loci were collocated with 23 previously identified mapped drought-related quantitative trait loci (QTLs); 15 of these 23 QTLs were mapped to green leaf area, total number of green leaves, or chlorophyll content. We also found 19 candidate genes for 12 of the 22 loci. Five of those genes showed either preferential or specific expression in the roots according to GeneAtlas v2. One candidate gene from a locus colocated with a previously mapped chlorophyll fluorescence QTL has been shown to increase chlorophyll fluorescence in maize in another study. The results of this study lay the foundation for further characterizing the sorghum mini core panel for novel drought-tolerant genes. 2025-07-25 2025-12-23T08:49:48Z 2025-12-23T08:49:48Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179232 en Open Access application/pdf Frontiers in Plant Science Min, Huiting; Wang,Kang; Wang, Tiantian; Cheng, Xinxiu; Habyarimana, Ephrem; Wang, Yongfei; Hu, Die; Wang, Yi-Hong; Wang, Lihua. 2025. Association mapping and candidate gene identification for drought tolerance in sorghum. Front. Plant Sci. 16:1629615. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1629615
spellingShingle mini core
drought tolerance
genes
crop yield
crop improvement
Huiting Min
Kang Wang
Tiantian Wang
Xinxiu Cheng
Habyarimana, Ephrem
Yongfei Wang
Die Hu
Yi-Hong Wang
Lihua Wang
Association mapping and candidate gene identification for drought tolerance in sorghum
title Association mapping and candidate gene identification for drought tolerance in sorghum
title_full Association mapping and candidate gene identification for drought tolerance in sorghum
title_fullStr Association mapping and candidate gene identification for drought tolerance in sorghum
title_full_unstemmed Association mapping and candidate gene identification for drought tolerance in sorghum
title_short Association mapping and candidate gene identification for drought tolerance in sorghum
title_sort association mapping and candidate gene identification for drought tolerance in sorghum
topic mini core
drought tolerance
genes
crop yield
crop improvement
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179232
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