QTL mapping of morphological characteristics that correlated to drought tolerance in St. Augustinegrass

Yu, Xingwang; Lara, Nicolas A. H.; Carbajal, Esdras M.; Milla‐Lewis, Susana R.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0268004

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(46 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Most of the progeny showed more winterkill and severe LF under drought stress compared to the parent, according to data reported in X. Yu, Lara et al. (2022). Modern bermudagrass breeding focuses on combining multiple favorable traits, such as high turfgrass quality, drought resistance, winter hardiness, etc.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Genetic variability and QTL mapping of morphological traits and inflorescence prolificacy in African bermudagrass

Yu,

Fontanier,

Yan

et al. 2024

Crop Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

African bermudagrass (Cynodon transvaalensis Burtt‐Davy) (2n = 2x = 18) has unique morphological characteristics such as finer leaf blades and shorter internodes that are important to improving turf qualities (i.e., texture and density) as compared to other Cynodon species. It has been extensively used to cross with common bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon Pers. var. dactylon) in developing high‐quality interspecific [C. dactylon (L.) Pers. × C. transvaalensis Burtt‐Davy] F1 hybrid cultivars for turf use. However, the molecular basis of its morphological variation is unknown. Accordingly, the objectives of this study were to estimate the heritability and identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with morphological and reproductive traits. A first‐generation self‐pollinated (S1) population of 109 individuals was evaluated for plant height (PH), leaf blade width (LBW) and leaf blade length, stem internode diameter and length, and inflorescence prolificacy (IP) in a replicated field trial over three seasons (2018–2020). The broad‐sense heritability estimates ranged from 0.31 (PH) to 0.80 (IP). Twenty‐four QTL were identified and nine of them were consistent ones. Fifteen candidate genes were found at a major and consistent QTL region associated with LBW. Frequent QTL colocations were found among morphological traits and between morphological traits and IP, partially explaining the significant correlation. The findings provide critical information and resources toward understanding the genetic basis associated with morphological and reproductive traits within C. transvaalensis and could contribute to marker‐assisted selection for breeding new turf‐type bermudagrass cultivars.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Genetic variability and QTL mapping of morphological traits and inflorescence prolificacy in African bermudagrass

Yu,

Fontanier,

Yan

et al. 2024

Crop Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…When comparing the results of this study with two previous QTL mapping studies in St. Augustinegrass for drought tolerance traits [14] and morphological characteristics associated with drought tolerance [15], regions of overlap were found on LGs 3, 4, 6, and 9 (Fig. 3).…”

Section: Qtl Overlap Across Studiesmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…In addition to the resolution of the genetic map, deciphering and accurately phenotyping drought-related traits has been another challenge for QTL mapping of drought resistance. In our previous studies, we characterized physiological and morphological traits under drought stress, including leaf water content, leaf wilting, leaf ring, NDVI, Fv/Fm, percent green cover, canopy density, leaf length and width, and shoot growth orientation, and successfully mapped QTL for these traits [14,15]. All these traits were evaluated at the end of drought stress to indicate the nal damage on the plants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using a population developed from the cross between cultivars 'Raleigh' and 'Seville', 46 signi cant associations were found, with co-localization of several drought-related traits across greenhouse and eld environments [14]. Furthermore, morphological and canopy traits were evaluated in the same population in a later study [15], and several overlapping QTL with those identi ed in [14] were found. However, as QTL can be speci c to a population and in uenced by environmental effects, validation of these QTL is necessary before implementing downstream processes such as MAS or genomic selection.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Integration of QTL and Transcriptome Studies Reveals Candidate Genes for Water Stress Response in St. Augustinegrass

Rockstad,

Yu,

Gesteira

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Drought resistance is an increasingly important trait for many plants—including St. Augustinegrass, a major warm-season turfgrass—as more municipalities impose restrictions on frequency and amount of irrigation. Breeding efforts have focused on breeding for drought resistance, and several drought-related QTL have been identified for St. Augustinegrass in our previous studies. However, the molecular basis of this trait is still less understood, which has been a significant roadblock for genetic improvement of the species. Results This study sought to validate those QTL regions in an independent biparental population developed from two sibling lines, XSA10098 and XSA10127. The drought evaluation in two greenhouse trials showed significant genotype variation for drought stress traits including leaf wilting, percent green cover, relative water content, percent recovery, and the area under the leaf wilting-, percent green cover-, and percent recovery- curves. A linkage map was constructed from a total of 12,269 SNPs, representing the densest St. Augustinegrass linkage map to date. Twenty-four QTL were identified from a multiple QTL mapping approach, and overlapping regions from this study and previous St. Augustinegrass drought resistance studies were found on linkage groups 3, 4, 6, and 9. At the transcriptome level, 1965 and 1005 differentially expressed genes were identified in the drought sensitive and tolerant genotypes, respectively. Gene Ontology and KEGG analysis found different mechanisms adopted by the two genotypes in response to drought stress. Integrating QTL and transcriptomics analyses revealed several candidate genes which are involved in processes including cell wall organization, photorespiration, zinc ion transport, regulation of reactive oxygen species, channel activity, and regulation in response to abiotic stress. Conclusions These results represent a step toward understanding the genetic control of water stress response in St. Augustinegrass and provide a theoretical basis for genetic improvement of drought resistance in this species.

show abstract

“…Using a discrete number of cultivars, which by definition have to be genetically and morphologically unique to be commercially released, increases the chances of detecting differences among genotypes. By using a population segregating for morphological characteristics (Yu et al., 2022), as well as drought response (Yu et al., 2019), we were able to evaluate the application of UAVs in a wider range of St. Augustinegrass canopy architectures and drought stress symptoms. However, the continuous variable response for drought stress symptoms earlier in the data collection period resulted in traditional mean separation tests with little utility in categorizing entries and determining the vegetation index with the greatest separation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing unmanned aerial vehicle‐based imagery for breeding applications in St. Augustinegrass under drought and non‐drought conditions

Rockstad,

Austin,

Gouveia

et al. 2023

Crop Science

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The use of imagery collected from small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in turfgrass breeding has rapidly increased, as has the demand to develop drought‐resistant cultivars. However, prior to adopting UAVs to help guide turfgrass selection under drought stress conditions, a clear understanding of the value and predictive ability of imagery‐based turfgrass characterization is required. In St. Augustinegrass, a major warm‐season turfgrass species grown in the southeastern United States, limited research has been published about characterizing drought stress using aerial imagery. Specifically, no efforts have compared the various vegetation indices (VIs) commonly used to evaluate vegetative health in other species and sought to identify the most useful index for phenotyping drought stress traits in St. Augustinegrass. In this study, traditional ground‐based approaches for measuring percent green cover (PGC) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were compared against their UAV‐derived counterparts as well as thirteen VIs under drought and non‐drought conditions, and broad‐sense heritability (H2) was calculated. A population of 115 genotypes from a ‘Raleigh’ × ‘Seville’ cross were analyzed at two environmentally distinct field sites in North Carolina. At both sites, a significant relationship between ground‐based and UAV‐derived measurements for PGC and NDVI was observed before and during drought (r = 0.82 to 0.95) and suggests a clear advantage to using UAVs for phenotyping drought traits given the reduced time and labor costs compared to on‐ground efforts. Among all VIs compared, UAV‐derived NDVI showed strong correlation with the PGC taken on the ground (r > 0.85), a similar trend over time, and a higher H2 estimate under drought conditions, suggesting that UAV‐derived NDVI has the potential to assist in the selection of St. Augustinegrass genotypes with the best phenotypic response to drought. Implementing UAV imagery‐based high‐throughput methods will allow breeders to evaluate germplasm with unbiased quantitative consistency, quickly and thoroughly, and with increased frequency—all without sacrificing the response to selection potential.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

show abstract

QTL mapping of morphological characteristics that correlated to drought tolerance in St. Augustinegrass

Cited by 6 publications

References 26 publications

Genetic variability and QTL mapping of morphological traits and inflorescence prolificacy in African bermudagrass

Genetic variability and QTL mapping of morphological traits and inflorescence prolificacy in African bermudagrass

Integration of QTL and Transcriptome Studies Reveals Candidate Genes for Water Stress Response in St. Augustinegrass

Assessing unmanned aerial vehicle‐based imagery for breeding applications in St. Augustinegrass under drought and non‐drought conditions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About