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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Bioinformatics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1421267

Uncovering novel genes for drought stress in rice at germination stage in rice using Genome wide association study

Provisionally accepted
Jianmin Bian Jianmin Bian *Mvuyeni Nyasulu Mvuyeni Nyasulu Zhong Qi Zhong Qi Xiansheng Li Xiansheng Li Xu Liu Xu Liu Zhengjie Wang Zhengjie Wang Liang Chen Liang Chen Haohua He Haohua He
  • Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Breeding rice with drought tolerance for harsh environments is crucial for agricultural sustainability. Understanding the genetic underpinnings of drought tolerance is vital for developing resilient rice varieties. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have emerged as pivotal tools in unravelling the complex genetic architecture of traits like drought tolerance, capitalizing on the natural genetic diversity within rice germplasm collections. In this study, a comprehensive panel of 210 rice varieties was phenotyped over ten days in controlled conditions, subjected to simulated drought stress using 20% PEG 6000 in petri dishes. Throughout the stress period, crucial traits such as germination percentage (GP), germination rate index (GRI), mean germination time (MGT), and seedling percentage (SP) were meticulously monitored. The GWAS analysis uncovered a total of 38 QTLs associated with drought tolerance traits, including novel loci like qMGT-5.2, qSP-3, qSP7.2, and qGP-5.2. Additionally, RNA-seq analysis identified ten genes with significant expression differences under drought stress conditions. Notably, haplotype analysis pinpointed elite haplotypes in specific genes linked to heightened drought tolerance. Overall, this study underscores the importance of GWAS in validating known genes while unearthing novel loci to enrich the genetic resources for enhancing drought tolerance in rice breeding programs.

    Keywords: rice, drought tolerance, genome-wide association study (GWAS), QTLs, genetic diversity

    Received: 22 Apr 2024; Accepted: 08 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Bian, Nyasulu, Qi, Li, Liu, Wang, Chen and He. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jianmin Bian, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.