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Dissection and validation of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) conferring grain size and grain weight in rice

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Abstract

Grain size and grain weight contribute greatly to the final grain yield in rice. In order to identify QTLs conferring grain size and grain weight, an F2 population derived from a cross between two indica rice accessions, Guangzhan 63-4S (GZ63-4S) and Dodda, and its derived F2:3 population were developed, and were exploited for QTL analysis of the five related traits, namely grain length (GL), grain width (GW), length-to-width ratio (LWR), grain thickness (GT) and thousand-grain weight (TGW). A total of 36 QTLs were detected, and the number of beneficial alleles was contributed roughly equally by the two parents. Among those, 7 QTL regions were repeatedly detected in the two populations. In order to further validate effects of QTLs detected, a BC1F2 population derived from a backcross of a mixture of F2 plants with GZ63-4S was developed and was exploited for QTL selection. Heterozygous regions of 3 QTLs, qGS3, qTGW6.2 and qGT7 were identified respectively, and corresponding near-isogenic lines (NILs) of each QTL were constructed with three rounds of self-crosses. In the background of NILs, qGS3 was responsible for GL, LWR, GT and TGW, qTGW6.2 was for GL and TGW, and qGT7 was for GT and TGW. These results have laid the foundation of further fine mapping work, and could be of great use in breeding and improvement of rice lines with desirable size and yield.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Program on R&D of Transgenic Plants (2016ZX08009003-004, 2016ZX08001002-002), and the earmarked fund for the China Agriculture Research System (CARS-01-03) of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement and National Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Ping Sun, Yuanyuan Zheng, Pingbo Li, Hong Ye, Hao Zhou, Guanjun Gao, Qinglu Zhang & Yuqing He

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  1. Ping Sun
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  2. Yuanyuan Zheng
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  3. Pingbo Li
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  4. Hong Ye
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  5. Hao Zhou
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  6. Guanjun Gao
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  7. Qinglu Zhang
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  8. Yuqing He
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Contributions

Ping Sun and Yuanyuan Zheng performed most of experiments and analyzed the data. Pingbo Li wrote the paper. Hong Ye and Hao Zhou constructed the F2 mapping population. Guanjun Gao and Qinglu Zhang participated in the field management. Yuqing He designed and supervised the study.

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Correspondence to Yuqing He.

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Sun, P., Zheng, Y., Li, P. et al. Dissection and validation of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) conferring grain size and grain weight in rice. Euphytica 220, 43 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-024-03310-9

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