Genomic Regions Associated with Fusarium Wilt Resistance in Flax

Abstract

Modern flax cultivars are susceptible to many diseases; arguably, the most economically damaging of these is the Fusarium wilt fungal disease. Over the past decades international flax breeding initiatives resulted in the development of resistant cultivars. However, much remains to be learned about the mechanisms of resistance to Fusarium infection in flax. As a first step to uncover the genetic factors associated with resistance to Fusarium wilt disease, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using 297 accessions from the collection of the Federal Research Centre of the Bast Fiber Crops, Torzhok, Russia. These genotypes were infected with a highly pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lini MI39 strain; the wilt symptoms were documented in the course of three successive years. Six different single-locus models implemented in GAPIT3 R package were applied to a selected subset of 72,526 SNPs. A total of 15 QTNs (Quantitative Trait Nucleotides) were detected during at least two years of observation, while eight QTNs were found during all three years of the experiment. Of these, ten QTNs occupied a region of 640 Kb at the start of chromosome 1, while the remaining QTNs mapped to chromosomes 8, 11 and 13. All stable QTNs demonstrate a statistically significant allelic effect across 3 years of the experiment. Importantly, several QTNs spanned regions that harbored genes involved in the pathogen recognition and plant immunity response, including the KIP1-like protein (Lus10025717) and NBS-LRR protein (Lus10025852). Our results provide novel insights into the genetic architecture of flax resistance to Fusarium wilt and pinpoint potential candidate genes for further in-depth studies.

Transcriptional profiling of fusarium wilt in flax

“…Previous research [12] has highlighted the significance of cytochromerelated genes in plant defense. Also, earlier we reported QTN in a gene encoding flax' cytochtrome P450 protein associated with resistance to Fusarium infection [13]. Our findings further emphasize the indispensable role the cytochrome superfamily in plant pathogen response.…”

Effect of chlorantraniliprole on soil bacterial and fungal diversity and community structure

“…In addition, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lini is one of the major flax pathogens affecting the world's crop production [ 48 ]. Whether the increase of CAP content in soil will inhibit the decrease of Fusarium pathogens needs further study.…”

Fine-mapping of a major locus for Fusarium wilt resistance in flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)

“…Unfortunately, the mapping was performed using mostly amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers and the location of the QTLs on linkage groups 6 and 10 cannot be assigned to the pseudomolecules of the flax reference genome assembly (You et al 2018 ). Recently, Kanapin et al ( 2021 ) performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) with nearly 300 accessions and identified one major locus for Fusarium wilt resistance in flax on chromosome 1 and minor loci on chromosomes 8, 11 and 13. The major chromosome 1 locus comprised ten quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs), spanned 640 Kb and explained 7–10% of the phenotypic variance for Fusarium wilt resistance in their diversity panel.…”