Abstract
The pattern of the panicle is an important characteristic of sorghum that is used to identify race divisions and species values. The knowledge of the genetic basis of sorghum inflorescence architecture and its component traits can enhance the process of improvement in sorghum breeding. This study was undertaken to better understand the genetic basis of sorghum inflorescence architecture and its association with yield-related traits. We investigated 98 simple sequence repeat maps in the sorghum diversity research set (SDRS) of 107 landraces from the worldwide sorghum germplasm. A significant difference between accessions was observed for 14 measured traits. In several components of sorghum inflorescence architecture, we found that the significance and high correlations between pairs of traits revealed that these variations are dependent not only on the panicle length (PanL) but also on the total branch number, maximum length of the primary branch (MaxLBZ/MxLBZ) , rachis length (Rac), and panicle diameter (PanD) and width (Panw). Significant mean squares were obtained for almost all characters in the individual analysis and combined analysis of variance for each season and across two seasons, suggesting that, the components of inflorescence architecture and yield related traits were highly variable in SDRS population, therefore, would respond to selection for yield improvement. Molecular markers divided the germplasm into three sub-populations with different groups of inflorescence/panicle types (PanT) (broom, open and compact). The SDRS was composed of six different PanT that were associated with 14 inflorescence traits. Using different models of association analysis, 16 loci on 8 chromosomes were found to be significantly related to the patterns of observed panicle traits. Among these loci, four QTLs were responsible for length-based traits, and three QTLs were responsible for dimentional traits. Four QTLs were responsible for panicle feature such as PanT and shape, one QTL responsible for yield related trait such as grain weight. Two QTLs were responsible for branch-based traits, such as the total node number and branch number with −Log10 (P) values ranging from 1.5 to 7.6 as the threshold value. Several genomic regions affected multiple traits, including one region that affected PanL and MxLBZ/MaxLBZ. QTLs for different traits tended to be found in the same region on chromosome 4 and on chromosome 9. Additionally, QTL was involved on Chr-2, Chr-5, Chr-6 and Chr-10 as a novel QTL that controlled Rac, total node number, PanD and PanT. These results will serve as preliminary findings of QTLs for sorghum inflorescence architecture, and a further evaluation of the germplasm for these traits is in progress. Moreover, these findings can lead to the emergence of a new era of sorghum genomics, which are aimed at bridging the knowledge gap between genotype and phenotype in sorghum inflorescence architecture.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdi A, Bekele E, Asfaw Z, Teshome A (2002) Patterns of morphological variation of sorghum Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench landraces in qualitative characters in North Shewa and South Welo, Ethiopia. Heriditas 137:161–172
Arunkumar B, Biradar BD, Salimath PM (2004) Genetic variability and character association studies in rabi sorghum. Karnataka J Agric Sci 17(3):471–475
Bala RS, Biswas PK, Ratnavathi CV (1996) Advances in value addition of Kharif sorghum. J Crop Improv 23:169–177
Barkworth M (2003) Sorghum bicolor Moench. In: Flora of North America Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, Part 2, vol 25. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 626–630
Barnaud A, Monique D, Eric G, Jacques C, Justin B, Esaei OK, Doyle MK, Helene IJ (2008) Weed–crop complex in sorghum: the dynamics of genetic diversity in a traditional farming system. Am J Bot 96:1869–1879
Bello D, Kadams AM, Simon SY (2001) Correlation and path coefficient analysis of grain yield and its components in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]; A Publication of SAAT, FUT, Yola, Nigeria. Niger J Trop Agric 3:4–9
Bello D, Kadams AM, Simon SY, Mashi DS (2007) Studies on genetic variability in cultivated sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) cultivars of Adamawa State Nigeria. Am Eurasian J Agric Environ Sci 3:297–302
Bhattramakki D, Dong J, Chhabra AK, Hart GE (2000) Anintegrated SSR and RFLP linkage map of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. Genome 43:988–1002
Bommert P, Satoh-Nagasawa N, Jackson D, Hirano HY (2005) Genetics and evolution of inflorescence and flower development in grasses. Plant Cell Physiol 46:69–78
Bouchet S, Pot D, Deu M, Rami JF, Billot C, Perrier X, Rivallan R, Gardes L, Xia L, Wenzl P, Kilian A, Glaszamann JC (2012) Genetic structure, linkage disequilibrium and signature of selection in sorghum: lessons from physically anchored DArT markers. PLoS One 7(3):e33470
Bradbury PJ, Zhang Z, Kroon DE, Casstevens TM, Ramdoss Y, Buckler ES (2007) TASSEL Software for association mapping of complex traits in diverse samples. Bioinformatics 23:2633–2635
Brown PJ, Klein PE, Bortiri E, Acharya CB, Rooney WL, Kresovich S (2006) Inheritance of inflorescence architecture in sorghum. Theor Appl Genet 10:931–942
Brown PJ, Myles S, Kresovich S (2011) Genetic support for phenotype-based racial classification in sorghum. Crop Sci 51:224–230
Casa AM, Mitchell SE, Hamblin MT, Sun H, Bowers PJ, Paterson AH, Aquadro CF, Krosovich S (2005) Diversity and selection in sorghum: simultaneous analysis using simple sequence repeats. Theor Appl Genet 111:23–30
Casa AM, Mitchell SE, Hamblin MT, Sun H, Bowers PJ, Paterson AH, Aquadro CF, Kroesovich S (2008) Community resources and strategies for association mapping in sorghum. Crop Sci 48(1):30–40
Colasanti J, Yuan Z, Sundaresan V (1998) The indeterminate gene encodes a zinc finger protein and regulates a leaf-generated signal required for the transition to flowering in maize. Cell 93(4):593–603
Dahlberg J (2000) Classification and characterization of sorghum. In: Smith WC, Frederiksen RA (eds) Sorghum: origin, history, technology, and production. Wiley, New York, pp 99–130
Delserone LM (2007) Sorghum. J Agric Food Inf 8:9–14
Doggett H (1988) Sorghum, 2nd edn. Longman Group UK Ltd., Essex, Scientific and technical, London, Wiley, New York, pp 75–97
Doust AN, Kellogg EA (2002) Inflorescence diversification in the panicoid “bristle grass” clade (Paniceae, Poaceae): evidence from molecular phylogenies and developmental morphology. Am J Bot 89:1203–1222
Doust AN, Devos KM, Gadberry MD, Gadberry MD, Gale MD, Kellogg EA (2005) The genetic basis for inflorescences variation between foxtail and green millet (Poaceae). Genetics 169:1659–1672
Emma SM, Shuaishuai T, Edward KG, Yanhong L, Peter JP, Lianle B, Bradley CC, Wushu H, David JI, Xuelian H, Alan C, Changming D, Ce´line F, Haikuan Z, Colleen HH, Xianyuan W, Tracey S, Miao W, Zhe S, Jun L, Xiaozhen L, Ian DG, David RJ, Jun W (2013) Whole-genome sequencing reveals untapped genetic potential in Africa’s indigenous cereal crop sorghum. Nat Commun 4:20–23
Food and Agriculture Organization-FAO: www.fao.org (2012) Sorghum. http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/doc/gbase/data/pf000319.htm. Accessed 8 April 2014
Futsuhara Y, Kondo S, Kitano H (1979a) Genetically studies on dense and lax panicles in rice—I: character expression and mode of inheritance of lax panicle rice. Jpn J Breed 29:151–158
Futsuhara Y, Kondo S, Kitano H (1979b) Character expression and mode of inheritance of dense panicle rice. Jpn J Breed 29:239–247
Hanson CH, Robinson HF, Comstock RE (1956) Biometrical studies of yield in segregating populations of Korean Lespedeza. Agron J 48:268–272
Hardy OJ, Vekemans X (2002) SPAGeDi: a versatile computer program to analyse spatial genetic structure at the individual or population levels. Mol Ecol Notes 2:618–620
Harlan JR, de Wet JMJ (1972) Simplified classification of cultivated sorghum. Crop Sci 12:172–176
House LR (1985) A guide to sorghum breeding, Manual, International Crops Research Institute for the semi-arid tropics, Second edition. India, pp 11–57
IBPGR and ICRISAT (1993) Descriptors for sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. IBPGR, ICRISAT, Rome, Patancheru
Ikeda M, Hirose Y, Takashi T, Shibata Y, Yamamura T, Komura T, Doi K, Ashikari M, Matsuoka M, Kitano H (2010) Analysis of rice panicle traits and detection of QTLs using an image analyzing method. Breed Sci 60:55–64
Kaitaniemi P, Room PM, Hanan JS (1999) Architecture and morphogenesis of grain sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. Field Crops Res 61:51–60
Kellogg EA (2000) Molecular and morphological evolution in Andropogoneae. In: Everett JE, Jacobs SWL (eds) Grass: systematics and evaluation 2: 148–229, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization CSIRO, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia
Kim JS, Klein PE, Klein RR, Price HJ, Mullet JE, Stelly DM (2005) Chromosome identification and nomenclature of Sorghum bicolor. Genetics 169:1169–1173
Klein RR, Rodriguez HR, Schlueter JA, Klein PE, Yu ZH, Rooney WL (2001) Identification of genomic regions that affect grain-mould incidence and other traits of agronomic importance in sorghum. Theor Appl Genet 102:307–319
Kock N (2012) WarpPLS 3.0 User Manual. Laredo, Texas, ScriptWarp Systems
Kong L, Dong J, Hart GE (2000) Characteristics, linkage-map positions, and allelic differentiation of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench DNA simple-sequence repeats (SSRs). Theor Appl Genet 101:438–448
Liang GHL, Casady AJ (1966) Quantitative presentation of the systematic relationships among twenty-one Sorghum species. Crop Sci 6:76–79
Liang GHL, Walter TL (1968) Heritability estimates and gene effects for agronomic traits in grain sorghum (Sorghum vulgare PerS). Crop Sci 8:77–81
Maman N, Mason SC, Lyon DJ, Dhungana P (2004) Yield components of pearl millet and grain sorghum across environments in the central great plains. Crop Sci 44:2138–2148
Murray SC, Rooney WL, Hamblin MT, Mitchell SE, Kresovich S (2009) Sweet sorghum genetic diversity and association mapping for brix and height. Plant Genome 2:48–62
Murry MG, Thompson WF (1980) Rapid isolation of high molecular weight plant DNA. Nucleic Acids Res 8(19):4321–4326
Negash G, Hussein M, Habtamu Z (2005) Genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] germplasm. Crop Res Hisar 30(3):439–445
Patel RH, Desai KB, Raj KRV, Parikh RK (1980) Estimates of heritability and genetic advance and other genetic parameters in an F2 populations of sorghum. Sorghum Newsl 23:22–23
Pritchard JK, Stephens M, Donnelly P (2000) Inference of population structure using multilocus genotype data. Genetics 155:945–959
Rai KN, Murty DS, Andrews DJ, Bramel-Cox PJ (1999) Genetic enhancement of pearl millet and sorghum for the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa. Genome 42:617–628
Robinson HF, Comstock RE, Harvey PH (1949) Genotypic and phenotypic correlations in corn and their implications in selection. Agron J 43:282–287
Saeed M, Francis CA (1983) Yield stability in relation to maturity in grain sorghum. Crop Sci 23:683–687
SAS Institute Inc (2010) JMP statistical and graphics guide, version 9. SAS Institute Inc, Cary
Shehzad T, Okuizumi H, Kawase M, Okuno K (2009a) Development of SSR-based sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) diversity research set of germplasm and its evaluation by morphological traits. Genet Resour Crop Evol 56:809–827
Shehzad T, Iwata H, Okuno K (2009b) Genome-wide association mapping of quantitative traits in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) by using multiple models. Breed Sci 59:217–227
Singh D, Singh V (1973) Study of heritability and genetic advance in Sorghum vulgare. Sci Cult 39:455–456
Singh V, Oosterom EJV, Jordan DR, Hunt CH, Hammer GL (2001) Genetic variability and control of nodal root angle in sorghum. Crop Sci 51:2011–2020
Snowden JD (1936) The cultivated races of Sorghum. London, Allard
Srinivas G, Satish K, Madhusudhana R, Nagaraja RR, Murali MS, Seetharama N (2009) Identification of quantitative trait loci for agronomically important traits and their association with genic-microsatellite markers in sorghum. Theor Appl Genet 118:1439–1454
Stich B, Mohring JM, Piepho HP, Heckenberger M, Buckler ES, Melchinger AE (2008) Comparison of mixed-model approaches for association mapping. Genetics 178:1745–1754
Taramino G, Tarchini R, Ferrario S, Lee M, Pe ME (1997) Characterization and mapping of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in Sorghum bicolor. Theor Appl Genet 95:66–72
Vanderlip RL, Reeves HE (1972) Growth stages of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. Crop Sci 64:13–16
Wannows AK, Azzam HA, Al-Ahmad SA (2010) Genetic variances, heritability, correlation and path coefficient analysis in yellow maize crosses. Agric Biol J N Am 4:630–637
Witt Hmon KP, Shehzad T, Okuno K (2013) Variation in inflorescence architecture associated with yield components in a sorghum germplasm. Plant Genet Res 11:1–8
Yan CJ, Zhou JHS, Yan FC, Yeboah M (2007) Identification and characterization of a major QTL responsible for erect panicle trait in japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.). Theor Appl Genet 115:1093–1100
Yu JG, Pressoir WH, Briggs I, Vroh BM, Yamasaki JF, Doebley MD, McMullen BS, Gaut DM, Nielsen JB, Holland S, Kresovich ES (2006) A unified mixed-model method for association mapping that accounts for multiple levels of relatedness. Nat Genet 38:203–208
Zhao K, Aranzana MJ, Kim S, Lister C, Shindo C, Tang C, Toomajian C, Zheng H, Dean C, Marjoram P, Nordborg M (2007) An Arabidopsis example of association mapping in structured samples. PLoS Genet 3:e1–e4
Zhu K, Tang D, Yan C, Chi Z, Yu H, Chen J, Liang I, Gu M, Cheng Z (2010) Erect panicle2 encodes novel protein that regulates panicle erectness in Indica rice. Genetics 184:343–350
Zou G, Yan S, Zhai G, Zhang Z, Zou J, Tao Y (2011) Genetic variability and correlation of stalk yield-related traits and sugar concentration of stalk juice in a sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] population. Aust J Crop Sci 5:1232–1238
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Khaing Pann Witt Hmon and Tariq Shehzad have contributed equally to this work.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Witt Hmon, K.P., Shehzad, T. & Okuno, K. QTLs underlying inflorescence architecture in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) as detected by association analysis. Genet Resour Crop Evol 61, 1545–1564 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-014-0129-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-014-0129-y