Identification of Introgressed Alleles Conferring High Fiber Quality Derived From Gossypium barbadense L. in Secondary Mapping Populations of G. hirsutum L.

Abstract

The improvement of fiber quality is an essential goal in cotton breeding. In our previous studies, several quantitative trait loci (QTLs) contributing to improved fiber quality were identified in different introgressed chromosomal regions from Sea Island cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) in a primary introgression population (Pop. A) of upland cotton (G. hirsutum L.). In the present study, to finely map introgressed major QTLs and accurately dissect the genetic contribution of the target introgressed chromosomal segments, we backcrossed two selected recombinant inbred lines (RILs) that presented desirable high fiber quality with their high lint-yielding recurrent parent to ultimately develop two secondary mapping populations (Pop. B and Pop. C). Totals of 20 and 27 QTLs for fiber quality were detected in Pop. B and Pop. C, respectively, including four and five for fiber length, four and eight for fiber micronaire, two and four for fiber uniformity, five and four for fiber elongation, and six and four for fiber strength, respectively. Two QTLs for lint percentage were detected only in Pop. C. In addition, seven stable QTLs were identified, including two for both fiber length and fiber strength and three for fiber elongation. Five QTL clusters for fiber quality were identified in the introgressed chromosomal regions, and negative effects of these chromosomal regions on lint percentage (a major lint yield parameter) were not observed. Candidate genes with a QTL-cluster associated with fiber strength and fiber length in the introgressed region of Chr.7 were further identified. The results may be helpful for revealing the genetic basis of superior fiber quality contributed by introgressed alleles from G. barbadense. Possible strategies involving marker-assisted selection (MAS) for simultaneously improving upland cotton fiber quality and lint yield in breeding programs was also discussed.

Examining two sets of introgression lines across multiple environments reveals background-independent and stably expressed quantitative trait loci of fiber quality in cotton

“…The CSSLs are similar to their recurrent parents in terms of field-observed phenotypes but with one or more specific traits of G. barbadense (Ma et al 2013;Li et al 2019b). 2012 Chen et al (2018) In this paper, the CSSLs exhibited high genetic diversity in fiber quality traits (Table 1, Fig. S1).…”

“…In the CCRI36 background: 11 FL-QTLs (qFL-C1-1, qFL- and qFL-C22-1), 12 FM-QTLs (qFM-C1-1, qFM- and 13 FS-QTLs (qFS-C7-4, qFS- were previously reported (Deng et al 2019;Fang et al 2014;Guo et al 2018;Jamshed et al 2016;Li et al 2019b;Ma et al 2017;Said et al 2015b;Shao et al 2014;Shen et al 2005;Shi et al 2019;Song et al 2017;Sun et al 2012;Wang et al 2016Wang et al , 2017aYang et al 2015;Zhai et al 2016;Zhang et al 2012Zhang et al , 2016. In the CCRI 45 background: 16 FL-QTLs (qFL-C2-1, qFL- were previously reported, 10 FM-QTLs (qFM-C5-2, qFM- and 23 FS-QTLs (qFS-C7-3, qFS- were previously reported (Chen et al 2018;Deng et al 2019;Fang et al 2014;Guo et al 2015;He et al 2007;Huang et al 2018;Jamshed et al 2016;Li et al 2019b;Lin et al 2005;Ning et al 2014;Said et al 2015b;Shao et al 2014;Shen et al 2005;Shi et al 2019;Song et al 2017;Sun et al 2012;Tang et al 2015;Wang et al 2011Wang et al , 2012Wang et al , 2015Wang et al , 2016Zhai et al 2016;…”

“…A QTL for FS, qFS-D11-1, was fine mapped using the ILs of TM-1 (G. hirsutum L.) × H102 (G. barbadense L.) (Su et al 2013), and a QTL for FL, qFL-chr1, was fine mapped and analyzed using near-isogenic introgression lines (NIILs) of Upland Tamcot 2111 (G. hirsutum, the recurrent parent) × Pima S-6 (G. barbadense, the donor parent) (Xu et al 2017). Some QTLs related to fiber quality in G. barbadense were identified based on segregating populations of derived progenies of one IL (Chen et al 2018;Wang et al 2011Wang et al , 2016. To date, most of the CSLs, ILs or CSSLs reported in cotton have been detected in the obsolete TM-1 genetic background.…”

Identification of candidate genes for key fibre‐related QTLs and derivation of favourable alleles in Gossypium hirsutum recombinant inbred lines with G. barbadense introgressions

“…Because of the limited genetic diversity within cultivated upland cotton (May et al ., ; Tyagi et al ., ), simultaneous improvement of fibre quality and yield via conventional breeding methods has been difficult. However, long‐term interspecific hybridization has developed a large amount of germplasm with obviously improved traits, such as fibre quality and/or biotic or abiotic tolerances, that contains introgressed components from other Gossypium species (Abdelraheem et al ., ; Bell et al ., , ; Iqbal et al ., ; Keerio et al ., ; Mammadov et al ., ; Wang et al ., ; Xu et al ., ; Zhang et al ., ; Zhou et al ., ), especially from cultivated G. barbadense varieties (Chen et al ., ; Wang et al ., , , ). Unfortunately, a major problem in using these germplasm resources is the negative correlation between fibre quality and lint yield (Scholl and Miller, ; Zhou et al ., ).…”

Fiber Quality Improvement in Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.): Quantitative Trait Loci Mapping and Marker Assisted Selection Application

“…A chromosome segment substitution line population developed by crossing between two tetraploid genome species (G. hirsutum and G. barbadense) detected 103 QTLs associated with fiber quality traits . The introgression of superior alleles of fiber quality from G. barbadense contributed to G. hirsutum have been linked in five QTL clusters for fiber quality which further associated with significant candidate genes (Gh_A07G1752, Gh_A07G1753, Gh_A07G1754, Gh_A07G1755, and Gh_A07G1756) in fiber development (Chen et al, 2018).…”