Genetic Architecture Underpinning Yield Components and Seed Mineral–Nutrients in Sesame

Abstract

Genetic dissection of yield components and seed mineral-nutrient is crucial for understanding plant physiological and biochemical processes and alleviate nutrient malnutrition. Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an orphan crop that harbors rich allelic repertoire for seed mineral–nutrients. Here, we harness this wide diversity to study the genetic architecture of yield components and seed mineral–nutrients using a core-collection of worldwide genotypes and segregating mapping population. We also tested the association between these traits and the effect of seed nutrients concentration on their bio-accessibility. Wide genetic diversity for yield components and seed mineral–nutrients was found among the core-collection. A high-density linkage map consisting of 19,309 markers was constructed and used for genetic mapping of 84 QTL associated with yield components and 50 QTL for seed minerals. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on mineral–nutrients QTL in sesame. Genomic regions with a cluster of overlapping QTL for several morphological and nutritional traits were identified and considered as genomic hotspots. Candidate gene analysis revealed potential functional associations between QTL and corresponding genes, which offers unique opportunities for synchronous improvement of mineral–nutrients. Our findings shed-light on the genetic architecture of yield components, seed mineral–nutrients and their inter- and intra- relationships, which may facilitate future breeding efforts to develop bio-fortified sesame cultivars.

Genome-wide association analysis uncovers the genetic architecture of tradeoff between flowering date and yield components in sesame

“…The advantage of using a diversity panel to detect new alleles is exemplified by comparing our results with a bi-parental population that was grown under the same environmental conditions. While Teboul et al [ 3 ] detected six QTLs using the F 2 population (S-91 × S-297), only the genomic region on LG11 was overlap with the current study.…”

“…Sesame is an annual diploid (2n = 2x = 26) species, which belongs to the Sesamum genus from the Pedaliaceae family. Its seeds are comprised of oil (45–60%), proteins (18-25%), carbohydrates (3-25%), and are rich in essential vitamins and mineral-nutrients [ 2 , 3 ]. The seeds are being used for an array of products in the food (e.g., high-quality oil, tahini paste, and cooking and backing) and pharmaceutical industries [ 4 ].…”

Genome-wide association uncovers the genetic architecture of tradeoff between flowering date and yield components in sesame

“…The advantage of using a diversity panel to detect new alleles is exemplified by comparing our results with a bi-parental population that was grown under the same environmental conditions. While Teboul et al (2020) detected six QTLs using the F2 population (S-91 × S-297), only the genomic region on LG11 was overlap with the current study.…”

“…Seed size (TSW) is known to have moderatehigh heritability in sesame (Uzun et al, 2013;Kalaiyarasi et al, 2019), as was found in the current study (0.88) and other crops, such as wheat (Sukumaran et al, 2018) and pea (Pisum sativum L.; Huang et al, 2017), was associated with only one region in 2020, with no overlap with SNPP and SYPP. Likewise, a small number of associated loci for TSW were found in bi-parental sesame populations (Du et al, 2019;Teboul et al, 2020), which may suggest that this trait is under less complex genetic control or under the regulation of many small-effect genomic regions. The absence of significant genomic signs for TSW (as well as other traits in the current study) indicates that other approaches, such as genomic prediction (Crossa et al, 2017), may contribute to understanding its genetic basis.…”

“…Sesame is an annual diploid (2n=2x=26) species, which belongs to the Sesamum genus from the Pedaliaceae family. Its seeds are comprised of oil (45-60%), proteins (18-25%), carbohydrate (3-25%), and rich with essential vitamins and mineral-nutrients (Anilakumar et al, 2010;Teboul et al, 2020). The seeds are being used for an array of products in the food (e.g., high-quality oil, tahini paste, and cooking and backing) and pharmaceutical industries (Mushtaq, 2020).…”