AUTHOR=Huang Zijian , Li Sai , Lv Zhaokun , Tian Yan , Chen Yibo , Zhu Yuxing , Wang Jiurong , Deng Huabing , Sun Liang , Tang Wenbang 

TITLE=Identification of subspecies-divergent genetic loci responsible for mineral accumulation in rice grains

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2023.1133600

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2023.1133600

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p>Rice (<italic>Oryza sativa</italic> L.) is a major staple food that provides not only dietary calories but also trace elements for the global inhabitants. The insufficiency of mineral nutrients and the potential accumulation of excessive toxic elements in grains pose risks to human health. The substantial natural variations in mineral accumulation in rice grains presents potentials for genetic improvements of rice <italic>via</italic> biofortifications of essential mineral nutrients and eliminations of toxic elements in grains. However, the genetic mechanisms underlying the natural variations in mineral accumulation have not been fully explored to date owing to unstable phenotypic variations, which are attributed to poor genetic performance and strong environmental effects. In this study, we first compared the genetic performance of different normalization approaches in determining the grain-Cd, grain-Mn, and grain-Zn variations in rice in different genetic populations. Then through quantitative trait loci (QTLs) identification in two rice inter-ectype populations, three QTLs, including <italic>qCd7</italic>, <italic>qMn3</italic>, and <italic>qZn7</italic>, were identified and the QTLs were found to exhibit allelic differentiation in the different ecotypes. Our results were expected to broaden our understanding for mineral accumulation in rice and propose the potential functional alleles that can be explored for further genetic improvement of rice.</p>