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IJMS, Vol. 24, Pages 15167: QTLs and Candidate Loci Associated with Drought Tolerance Traits of Kaybonnet x ZHE733 Recombinant Inbred Lines Rice Population
International Journal of Molecular Sciences doi: 10.3390/ijms242015167
Authors: Yheni Dwiningsih Julie Thomas Anuj Kumar Chirag Gupta Navdeep Gill Charles Ruiz Jawaher Alkahtani Niranjan Baisakh Andy Pereira
Rice is the most important staple crop for the sustenance of the world’s population, and drought is a major factor limiting rice production. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis of drought-resistance-related traits was conducted on a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from the self-fed progeny of a cross between the drought-resistant tropical japonica U.S. adapted cultivar Kaybonnet and the drought-sensitive indica cultivar ZHE733. K/Z RIL population of 198 lines was screened in the field at Fayetteville (AR) for three consecutive years under controlled drought stress (DS) and well-watered (WW) treatment during the reproductive stage. The effects of DS were quantified by measuring morphological traits, grain yield components, and root architectural traits. A QTL analysis using a set of 4133 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and the QTL IciMapping identified 41 QTLs and 184 candidate genes for drought-related traits within the DR-QTL regions. RT-qPCR in parental lines was used to confirm the putative candidate genes. The comparison between the drought-resistant parent (Kaybonnet) and the drought-sensitive parent (ZHE733) under DS conditions revealed that the gene expression of 15 candidate DR genes with known annotations and two candidate DR genes with unknown annotations within the DR-QTL regions was up-regulated in the drought-resistant parent (Kaybonnet). The outcomes of this research provide essential information that can be utilized in developing drought-resistant rice cultivars that have higher productivity when DS conditions are prevalent.
