First Vanilla planifolia High-Density Genetic Linkage Map Provides Quantitative Trait Loci for Resistance to Fusarium oxysporum

Abstract

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp radicis-vanillae (Forv), the causal agent of Root and Stem Rot disease, is the main pathogen affecting vanilla production. Sources of resistance have been reported in Vanilla planifolia G. Jackson ex Andrews, the main cultivated vanilla species. Here we developed the first high-density genetic map in this species with 1,804 GBS-generated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers using 125 selfed progenies of the CR0040 traditional vanilla cultivar. Sixteen linkage groups (LG) were successfully constructed, with a mean of 113 SNPs and an average length of 207 cM per LG. The map had a high density with an average of 5.45 SNP every 10 cM and an average distance of 1.85 cM between adjacent markers. The first 3 LG were aligned against the first assembled chromosome of CR0040 and the other 13 LG were correctly associated with the other 13 assembled chromosomes. The population was challenged with the highly pathogenic Forv strain Fo072 using the root-dip inoculation method. Five traits were mapped and 20 QTLs were associated with resistance to Fo072. Among genes retrieved in the CR0040 physical regions associated with QTLs, genes potentially involved in biotic resistance mechanisms have been highlighted, coding for kinases, E3 ubiquitin ligases, pentatricopeptide repeat-containing proteins, and one leucine-rich repeat receptor underlying the qFo72_08.1 QTL. This study should provide useful resources for marker-assisted selection in V. planifolia.