The genetic architecture of floral traits in the woody plant Prunus mume

First author: Qixiang Zhang; Affiliations: Beijing Forestry University (北京林业大学): Beijing, China

Corresponding author: Qixiang Zhang (张启翔)

Mei (Prunus mume) is an ornamental (观赏性的) woody plant that has been domesticated in East Asia for thousands of years. High diversity in floral traits, along with its recent genome sequence, makes mei an ideal model system for studying the evolution of woody plants. Here, we investigate the genetic architecture of floral traits in mei and its domestication history by sampling and resequencing a total of 351 samples including 348 mei accessions and three other Prunus species at an average sequencing depth of 19.3×. Highly-admixed population structure and introgression (基因渗入) from Prunus species are identified in mei accessions. Through a genome-wide association study (GWAS), we identify significant quantitative traits locus (QTLs) and genomic regions where several genes, such as MYB108, are positively associated with petal color, stigma color, calyx (花萼) color, and bud color. Results from this study shed light on the genetic basis of domestication in flowering plants, particularly woody plants.

梅（拉丁名：Prunus mume）是重要的观赏类木本植物，其在东亚已被驯化超过数千年。梅花的高度多样性，以及最近所报道的其全基因组序列使得该物种成为了研究木本植物演化的理想模型系统。本文通过对包含248份梅品种的351样本以及3个李属其它植物进行平均测序深度为19.3×的重测序分析，以研究梅的花性状群体遗传结构。研究鉴定了不同梅品种间高度的混合群体结构和基因渗入。通过全基因组关联分析，作者鉴定了一些显著的数量性状位点和基因组区域，这些区域包含着一些与花瓣颜色、柱头颜色、花萼颜色和芽颜色显著正相关的基因，比如MYB108基因。本文的研究为开花植物，尤其是木本植物驯化的遗传基因提供了新的理解。

doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04093-z

Journal: Nature Communications

Published online: 27 April, 2018

（P.S. 欢迎关注微信公众号：微信号Plant_Frontiers）