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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center » Dairy Forage Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #327847

Title: Associations with flowering time, latitude, and climate in switchgrass

Author
item Casler, Michael
item Grabowski, Paul
item JIANG, YIWEI - Purdue University

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/16/2016
Publication Date: 6/12/2016
Citation: Casler, M.D., Grabowski, P.P., Jiang, Y. 2016. Associations with flowering time, latitude, and climate in switchgrass [abstract]. 5th International Conference on Quantitative Genetics. Paper No. 135.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Switchgrass is a North American perennial grass and emerging bioenergy feedstock, and increasing biomass yields will improve the economic viability of switchgrass as a bioenergy crop. Flowering time is an important determinant of biomass yields in switchgrass because the majority of biomass accumulates during vegetative growth, so later flowering increases biomass production. However, many of the highest yielding, late flowering switchgrass varieties originate from southern latitudes and their productivity suffers at northern latitudes due to winter mortality. A better understanding of the genetics underlying flowering time and cold tolerance will aid the development of switchgrass with improved biomass yields, particularly at northern latitudes. Past genetic and genomic efforts in switchgrass have been hindered by its large, polyploid genome, but these challenges are ameliorated by recently developed exome-capture, which targets the genic space and can produce gene-level resolution of patterns of genetic variation. Here, we use exome-capture derived genotypes to detect associations with flowering time in a northern latitude association panel consisting of more than 500 switchgrass genotypes. In addition, we use an expanded diversity panel consisting of genotypes from across the range of switchgrass in the United States to detect associations with latitude and bioclimate variables which may identify genes responsible for adaptation to different photoperiods and climates. These results provide insights into the genetic regulation of important bioenergy traits and will inform efforts to improve biomass yields at northern latitudes.