Cotton is an important crop in the textile, food and pharmaceutical industries. In the present study, a panel of 108 elite cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) lines was genotyped with 177 genome-wide SSR markers to assess genetic diversity, linkage disequilibrium, population structure and association analyses. A total of 967 loci were assayed and the lines fell into four main groups with a mean genetic distance of 39%. The linkage disequilibrium (LD) decay rate was estimated to be 20-30 cm (r 2 B 0.5). Association analyses were performed with both general linear model and mixed linear model methods to identify SSR marker loci linked to Verticillium wilt resistance. Verticillium wilt is a fungal disease that causes huge yield losses in cotton production throughout the world. A total of 26 marker loci distributed on 14 chromosomes were associated with resistance at p B 0.05. Eight of the 26 associated marker loci were highly significant (p \ 0.01). The phenotypic variation explained (r 2 ) by individual markers ranged from 3.2% to 8.2%. Three of the 26 marker loci (JESPR153, JESPR274 and CIR218) were consistent with previous studies. Our results should be useful in improving Verticillium wilt resistance in cotton breeding lines.

Cotton is an economically important commodity for nearly fifty industries including the textile sector which is largely based on cotton fiber. Identification of markers linked to loci for fiber traits under drought stress may be particularly beneficial because such loci could provide the genetic adaptability needed to produce good fiber under water limitation. In the present study, 177 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to detect significant quantitative trait loci (QTLs) linked to 11 fiber quality and plant structure traits in a panel of 99 Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) genotypes using GLM and MLM analysis. The fiber quality traits, including fiber length (FL), fiber fineness (FF), fiber strength (FS), fiber elasticity (FE), fiber uniformity (FU), spinning conversion index (SCI), earliness (EAR), 1st position boll retention (1st PBR), 2nd position boll retention (2nd PBR), total boll number (TBN) and plant height (PH), were tested under both well-watered and water-limited irrigations in two locations. At both locations, GLM identified a total of 74 and 70 QTLs under well-watered and water limited conditions, respectively, at p ≤ 0.005. MLM detected seven and 23 QTLs under well-watered and water-limited conditions, respectively. Of the identified QTLs, some QTLs were detected in both locations: three for well-watered and two for water-stress conditions. Moreover, a total of 19 QTLs were stable under both watering-regimes. The QTLs identified herein could be useful in the development of cotton cultivars that have adaptability to drought conditions worldwide.

Drought causes serious yield losses in cotton production throughout the world. Association mapping allows identification and localization of the genes controlling drought-related traits which will be helpful in cotton breeding. In the present study, genetic diversity analysis and association mapping of yield and drought traits were performed on a panel of 99 upland cotton genotypes using 177 SSR (simple sequence repeat) markers. Yield parameters and drought tolerancerelated traits were evaluated for two seasons under two watering regimes: water-stressed and well-watered. The traits included seed cotton yield (SCY), lint yield (LY), lint percentage (LP), water-use efficiency (WUE), yield potential (YP), yield reduction (YR), yield index (YI), drought sensitivity index (DSI), stress tolerance index (STI), harmonic mean (HM), and geometric mean productivity (GMP). The genotypes with the least change in seed cotton yield under drought stress were Zeta 2, Delcerro, Nazilli 87, and DAK 66/3 which were also the most water-use efficient cultivars. The average genetic diversity of the panel was 0.38. The linkage disequilibrium decayed relatively rapidly at 20-30 cM (r 2 ≥ 0.5). We identified 30 different SSR markers associated with the traits. Fifteen and 23 SSR markers were linked to the traits under well-watered and water-stress conditions, respectively. To our knowledge, most of these quantitative yield and drought toleranceassociated loci were newly identified. The genetic diversity and association mapping results should facilitate the development of drought-tolerant cotton lines with high yield in molecular breeding programs.

Cotton is a valuable fiber crop which supplies raw material to more than 50 industries and is produced in more than 70 countries worldwide thus, it is worthy of its reputation as “white gold”. The superiority of cotton fiber over other crops is primarily dependent on its quality. However, further improvements in fiber length, strength and fineness are required for modern processing technology and for cotton to maintain its position in the global market. Association mapping enables identification of QTLs controlling fiber quality-related traits which can be useful in cotton breeding. In the present study, we performed genetic diversity, linkage disequilibrium and association mapping analyses in 157 G. hirsutum multi-parent recombinant inbred lines using a total of 102 SSR markers. The population had depressed genetic variability (14%), a result of inbreeding of modern cotton genotypes. Despite this, we identified 13 significant and stable marker-trait associations for seed cotton yield, lint percentage, fiber length, fiber strength and fiber fineness (p < 0.005). We also detected QTL co-localizations with positive and negative marker additive effects. Our results indicate that selection against negative alleles may be as important as selection for positive alleles. Analysis of the effects of allelic combinations at different QTLs revealed significant and stable marker clusters that can be selected for or against to provide maximum quality gains in cotton fiber quality.

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Cotton is a valuable ber crop which supplies raw material to more than 50 industries and is produced in more than 70 countries worldwide thus, it is worthy of its reputation as "white gold". The superiority of cotton ber over other crops is primarily dependent on its quality. However, further improvements in ber length, strength and neness are required for modern processing technology and for cotton to maintain its position in the global market. Association mapping enables identi cation of QTLs controlling ber quality-related traits which can be useful in cotton breeding. In the present study, we performed genetic diversity, linkage disequilibrium and association mapping analyses in 157 G. hirsutum multi-parent recombinant inbred lines using a total of 102 SSR markers. The population had depressed genetic variability (14%), a result of inbreeding of modern cotton genotypes. Despite this, we identi ed 13 signi cant and stable marker-trait associations for seed cotton yield, lint percentage, ber length, ber strength and ber neness (p < 0.005). We also detected QTL co-localizations with positive and negative marker additive effects. Our results indicate that selection against negative alleles may be as important as selection for positive alleles. Analysis of the effects of allelic combinations at different QTLs revealed signi cant and stable marker clusters that can be selected for or against to provide maximum quality gains in cotton ber quality.

Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Cmm), is a devastating bacterial disease agent causing bacterial wilt and canker in tomatoes. There is no definitive solution to prevent yield losses by Cmm in tomatoes. Moreover, there is currently no commercially successful Cmm resistant tomato cultivar on the market. Therefore, we aimed to determine the tolerance level of some tomato accessions to Cmm in the present study. For this purpose, we screened seven tomato accessions representing four species (Solanum arcanum, S. habrochaites, S. pennellii, and S. peruvianum) from Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico against the highly virulent isolates Cmm-244 and Cmm-9. A root immersion method was used to identify new sources of resistance to this important disease. Two accessions, S. habrochaites LA1777, and S. arcanum LA2157 were found to be moderate and highly tolerant, respectively, and could serve as tolerance resources for tomato breeding in Türkiye. These materials can also be investigated more extensively to determine their intrinsic Cmm tolerance mechanism.

Broomrape is one of the most important biotic stresses causing serious yield reductions in sunflower. Control of this parasitic plant is difficult and physical and chemical strategies are usually insufficient. Therefore, introduction of genetic resistance to broomrape in sunflower is a key breeding goal. Breeding efforts on broomrape resistance have been conducted for decades, however, new broomrape races, such as race F, have emerged and rapidly evolved to be more aggressive and devastating. Although a few quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified for race F resistance, none of these loci are suitable for marker assisted selection because of their small phenotypic effects. In the present study, three major QTLs for broomrape race F resistance were identified on LG7, LG11 and LG12 using a high density SNP map constructed with the genotyping by sequencing approach in an intraspecific F2 population. The population consisted of 300 individuals derived from a cross between susceptible Helianthus annuus cv. RHA 436 as the recipient parent and resistant H. annuus cv. H08 M1 as the donor parent. Breeder-friendly SNP-based cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence markers were developed for the QTLs. The QTLs and CAPS markers identified in this study will be valuable molecular genetic tools for sunflower breeding.