Association analysis of germination level cold stress tolerance and candidate gene identification in Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

• Published in: Physiology and molecular biology of plants Vol. 28; no. 5; pp. 1049 - 1060
• Main Authors: Baytar, Asena Akkose, Peynircioğlu, Ceng, Sezener, Volkan, Frary, Anne, Doğanlar, Sami
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01-05-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Association analysis; Biological and Medical Physics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biophysics; Breeding; Cell Biology; Cold; Cold tolerance; Cotton; Damage tolerance; Extreme cold; Genes; Genetic analysis; Genetic diversity; Genomes; Genotypes; Germination; Gossypium hirsutum; Life Sciences; Low temperature; Markers; Parameter identification; Plant breeding; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Plant species; Research Article; Temperature tolerance; Tomatoes; Association mapping; Simple sequence repeat (SSR); L; Cold stress tolerance; Gossypium hirsutum L
• ISSN: 0971-5894; 0974-0430
• DOI: 10.1007/s12298-022-01184-6

Cotton originated from ancestors in the Gossypium genus that grew in semi-desert habitats. As a result, it is adversely affected by low temperatures especially during germination and the first weeks of growth. Despite this, there are relatively few molecular studies on cold stress in cotton. This limitation may present a future breeding handicap, as recent years have witnessed increased low temperature damage to cotton production. Cold tolerance is a sustainable approach to obtain good production in case of extreme cold. In the present study, 110 Upland cotton (
Gossypium hirsutum
) genotypes were evaluated for cold tolerance at the germination stage. We identified vigorous genotypes with cold-related parameters that outperformed the panel’s average performance (
x
¯
 = 76.9% CG, 83.9% CSI, 167.5 CWVI). Molecular genetic diversity analysis with 101 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers yielding 416 loci was used to select tolerant genotypes that could be important materials for breeding this trait. A total of 16 marker-cold tolerance trait associations (
p
 < 0.005) were identified with 10 of them having major effects (PVE > 10%). Based on the positions of these markers, candidate genes for cold tolerance in the
G. hirsutum
genome were identified. Three of these markers (BNL0569, CIR081 and CIR202) are important candidates for use in marker-assisted breeding for cold tolerance because they mapped to genes previously associated with cold tolerance in other plant species such as
Arabidopsis thaliana
, rice and tomato.