AUTHOR=Chakrabarty Subhadra , Kravcov Natalja , Schaffasz André , Snowdon Rod J. , Wittkop Benjamin , Windpassinger Steffen 

TITLE=Genetic Architecture of Novel Sources for Reproductive Cold Tolerance in Sorghum

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.772177

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2021.772177

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Enhancements in reproductive cold tolerance of sorghum are essential to expand growing areas into both high-latitude temperate areas and tropical high-altitude environments. Here we present first insights into the genetic architecture of this trait <italic>via</italic> genome-wide association studies in a broad genetic diversity set (<italic>n</italic> = 330) phenotyped in multi-location field trials including high-altitude tropical (Mexico) and high-latitude temperate (Germany) environments. We observed a high degree of phenotypic variation and identified several novel, temperate-adapted accessions with superior and environmentally stable cold tolerance. Good heritability indicates strong potential for implementation of reproductive cold tolerance in breeding. Although the trait was found to be strongly quantitative, promising genomic regions with multiple-trait associations were found, including hotspots on chromosomes 3 and 10 which contain candidate genes implicated in different developmental and survival processes under abiotic stress conditions.</p>