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ARS Home » Midwest Area » East Lansing, Michigan » Sugarbeet and Bean Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #337433
Title: Phenotypes, genome wide markers and structured genetic populations; a means to understand economically important traits in beta vulgaris and to inform the process of germplasm enhancement

Author
item GALEWSKI, PAUL - Michigan State University
item TOWNSEND, BELINDA - Rothamsted Research
item McGrath, Jon

Submitted to: Plant and Animal Genome Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/12/2017
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Although hybrid seed systems in beet have been widely adopted due to profitability and productivity, the population remains the operational unit of beet improvement and thus characterizing populations in terms of markers and phenotypes is critical for novel trait discovery and eventual deployment of traits to the farmer’s field. This research utilizes several -omics technologies in order to 1) catalog and compare the molecular variation found within the Beta vulgaris crop types, 2) generate genome wide markers in order to give context and clarity to 22 varieties/germplasm representing a sample of the beet crop type diversity and important phenotypic characters, and 3) partition the phenotypic variation resulting from divergent crosses between sugar beet and crop type against the respective genome. To date, 982,190 SNPs have been identified with a high information content and the ability to discriminate within and among the populations and crop types. Additionally, a characterization of private variation (SNP/ INDELS) found only within one population or crop type is starting to produce evidence of global and local genome differentiation resulting from selection for end use and genetic drift within the breeding program. Using the catalog of variation it is possible to compare the differences in the parental genomes which were recombined in divergent hybrid crosses to form half-sib families and capture a large portion of the phenotypic variability of the crop within segregating F2 lines which were inbred to form mapping populations. The global pairwise Fst for inter-crop type populations C896 and W357B was 0.29 versus and an Fst of 0.12 for inter-crop sugar beet types C869 and L19. The MSR is an F7 inbred population resulting from a specific cross between a sugar and table beet (C896 and W357B) and represents a large degree of phenotypic variability for economically important characters (i.e. percent sucrose, percent H20, biomass accumulation). Locating these traits to genomic regions using genotype phenotype association and leveraging additional data regarding local genome differentiation and gene expression to gain better resolution of the genetic architecture of these traits may provide a useful tool to identify genes for any phenotype of interest and to integrate their functionality into modern hybrids for the benefit of farmers.