Identification of quantitative trait loci for flowering time in a Camelina biparental population developed from winter- and spring-type parents

• Published in: Industrial crops and products 2024-11, Vol.220, p.119259, Article 119259
• Main Authors: Kandel, Jinita Sthapit, Talukder, Zahirul I., Shaikh, TM, Horvath, David P., Li, Xuehui, Anderson, James V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Camelina; Flowering time; Genotyping-by-sequencing; Quantitative trait loci
• ISSN: 0926-6690
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2024.119259

Camelina [Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz] is an annual oilseed crop from the Brassicaceae family. Camelina consists of both spring and winter biotypes with winter biotypes having exceptionally low temperature tolerance. Winter-hardy crops, such as camelina, can be planted in the fall and harvested early in the summer allowing for double- and relay-cropping options in the northern Great Plains of the USA. To enhance double- and relay-cropping systems, early maturing varieties of camelina are desired. The objectives of this study were to evaluate variation in flowering time and identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) in a biparental camelina population developed from crossing a winter (Joelle) and a spring (C046) biotype. An F7 recombinant inbred line (RIL) population consisting of 254 individuals was phenotyped for days to flowering (DTF) under greenhouse conditions after treatment with or without 8-weeks of vernalization. Variation in DTF among two experiments (Exp) was observed in the RIL population and average DTF for non-vernalized plants were 54.6 and 58.1 days after planting (DAP) (Exp 1 and 2 respectively) and 89 and 90.1 DAP in vernalized plants. Broad-sense heritability estimate of DTF across two experiments was 0.79 with and 0.96 without vernalization. The RIL population was genotyped with 2412 SNP markers to create a linkage map and perform QTL analysis. The map consisted of 20 linkage groups representing the 20 chromosomes (Chr) of C. sativa. The QTL analysis of DTF with vernalization identified significant loci on chromosomes 2, 8, 11, 13, and 16 with the highest logarithm of odds (LOD) score of 27.3 in Chr13 that explained 27 % of phenotypic variation. For DTF without vernalization, QTL were identified on chromosomes 7, 8, 12, 13, and 17 with the highest LOD scores of 70.85 on Chr8 and 70.04 on Chr13 that explained 41 and 42 % of phenotypic variation, respectively. Exploring the major QTL regions on chromosomes 8 and 13 of camelina indicated the presence of a MADS-box protein encoded by FLC (FLOWERING LOCUS C). Other candidate genes responsible for flowering time identified in the QTL regions include FLOWERING LOCUS T, TGACG motif-binding factor 4, AGAMOUS-like MADS-box proteins (AGL17, AGL71, AGL72), CONSTANS-like 3, an RNA-binding protein (HLP1), SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) gene, and a mediator complex subunit (MED18) that affects flowering time and floral organ formation. These RILs provide an important resource for developing early maturing v