Characterization of genes and alleles involved in the control of flowering time in grapevine

Abstract

Grapevine ( Vitis vinifera ) is one of the most important perennial crop plants in worldwide. Understanding of developmental processes like flowering, which impact quality and quantity of yield in this species is therefore of high interest. This gets even more important when considering some of the expected consequences of climate change. Earlier bud burst and flowering, for example, may result in yield loss due to spring frost. Berry ripening under higher temperatures will impact wine quality. Knowledge of interactions between a genotype or allele combination and the environment can be used for the breeding of genotypes that are better adapted to new climatic conditions. To this end, we have generated a list of more than 500 candidate genes that may play a role in the timing of flowering. The grapevine genome was exploited for flowering time control gene homologs on the basis of functional data from model organisms like A . thaliana . In a previous study, a mapping population derived from early flowering GF.GA-47-42 and late flowering ‘Villard Blanc’ was analyzed for flowering time QTLs. In a second step we have now established a workflow combining amplicon sequencing and bioinformatics to follow alleles of selected candidate genes in the F 1 individuals and the parental genotypes. Allele combinations of these genes in individuals of the mapping population were correlated with early or late flowering phenotypes. Specific allele combinations of flowering time candidate genes within and outside of the QTL regions for flowering time on chromosome 1, 4, 14, 17, and 18 were found to be associated with an early flowering phenotype. In addition, expression of many of the flowering candidate genes was analyzed over consecutive stages of bud and inflorescence development indicating functional roles of these genes in the flowering control network.

Fruit Development in Ficus carica L.: Morphological and Genetic Approaches to Fig Buds for an Evolution From Monoecy Toward Dioecy

“…A large number of genes following the flowering time control family (including FCA , FPA , and FY identified in our work) have been identified in grapevine ( Kamal et al, 2019 ), as the main genes involved in the high complex flower development and long duration of bud initiation, and in Arabidopsis thaliana , in which promote the transition of the vegetative meristem to reproductive development.…”

Genetic mapping and selection of table grape fruit quality characteristics in a segregating population and evaluation of marker transferability

“…Many of these QTLs had a minor effect on the trait (7-14%) and showed little overlap with the other study. More recently, a study looked at genes and alleles associated with early owering time and found positive candidates near QTL regions on chr 1, 4, 14, 17, and 18, suggesting that many, if not all of these regions may be useful for selecting early owering time in grape depending on the genetic background(Kamal et al, 2019). We identi ed a single QTL on chromosome 18 explaining ~ 11% of the variability observed.…”

“…Unfortunately, many of these traits are associated with multiple small effect QTL dispersed across the grape genome. Flowering time and veraison time were associated with QTL of varying effects on chromosomes 1, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, and 19, depending on the parentage of the cross (Fechter et al 2014; Kamal et al 2019; Underhill et al 2020). Two of those QTL on chromosomes 1 and 17 were consistently identi ed in two populations evaluated across two years (Fechter et al 2014).…”

“…Two of those QTL on chromosomes 1 and 17 were consistently identi ed in two populations evaluated across two years (Fechter et al 2014). More recently, a genome-wide evaluation of owering-time related QTL evaluated potential candidate genes underlying those QTL (Kamal et al 2019). Speci c alleles on chromosomes 1, 4, 14, 17, and 18 were all found to be associated with early ower time using a population derived from a breeding line by 'Villard Blanc' cross.…”

Stable QTL for malate levels in ripe fruit and their transferability acrossVitisspecies

“…Specifically, QTL associated with grapevine phenology, i.e. flowering time and the degree-day interval from budbreak to flowering, were previously detected on chromosomes 14 and 17, and 7 and 14, respectively [ 44 , 45 ]. Therefore, the effect of phenological variation on malate levels and their associated QTL identified here, were evaluated by using TSS as a proxy for fruit ripening and by performing genotype-specific sampling in the fifth year of the study (2019).…”