Association Mapping for Sugarcane Quality Traits at Three Harvest Times

Author(s)

Coutinho, Alisson Esdras ^{[1, 2]} ; da Silva, Marcel Fernando ^{[1, 2]} ; Perecin, Dilermando ^[2] ; Carvalheiro, Roberto ^[2] ; Xavier, Mauro Alexandre ^[1] ; de Andrade Landell, Marcos Guimaraes ^[1] ; Pinto, Luciana Rossini ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Ctr Cana IAC, Inst Agron, CP 206, BR-14001970 Ribeirao Preto, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Bautista, Campus Jaboticabal, Belo Horizonte, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: SUGAR TECH; SEP 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Sugarcane is a major crop cultivated globally for sugar and bioenergy production, with increasing relevance as a biomass source. Association mapping studies, in turn, identify markers associated with target traits that may assist genotype selection. Here, we used a diversity panel comprising 100 sugarcane genotypes to investigate the clustering patterns using phenotypic data, i.e., sugar content (Pol%Cane) and fiber, and Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) markers, and perform association mapping to identify marker-trait associations (MTAs) that are consistent across harvesting times, i.e., autumn, winter and spring harvest, and across 2 years for the spring harvest. The K-means clustering of phenotypic and genotypic data revealed discontinuities among genotypes, indicating a distribution into two groups with high intra- and inter-group diversity. A subset of 640 AFLP markers across 93 genotypes was selected after quality control and subjected to association analysis via the Bayes C method. Different sets of MTAs were detected across harvest times for each trait, with each set collectively explaining 68.44-99.75% of the phenotypic variation (R-2). The detection in more than one harvest time was observed for 32 and 12 MTAs for Pol%Cane and fiber, respectively, while none was detected in all the harvest times. The most important markers selected by the stepwise process individually explained 1.61-67.55% of the phenotypic variation, with highlights for the MTAs with high individual R-2 values and/or detection in two or more harvest times with consistent positive effects, which may correspond to new genomic regions associated with Pol%Cane and fiber and should be further investigated. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 08/56146-5 - Sustainable bioenergy sugarcane breeding and cultivar development
• Grantee: Marcos Guimarães de Andrade Landell
• Support Opportunities: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Thematic Grants