Journal
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
Volume 13, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.829888
Keywords
association genetics; co-expression; eQTN; epistasis; drought tolerance; Populus
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Funding
- Major Science and Technology Projects of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region [2021ZD0008]
- Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [31872671, 32170370]
- 111 Project [B20050]
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This study developed an integrated strategy to investigate the genetic basis of drought response in perennial trees. By implementing systems genetics approach, a genetic regulatory network consisting of four key regulators was constructed. Transcriptome analysis identified candidate genes related to drought stress and association genetics and eQTN mapping revealed genes and genetic loci associated with drought-related traits.
Drought frequency and severity are exacerbated by global climate change, which could compromise forest ecosystems. However, there have been minimal efforts to systematically investigate the genetic basis of the response to drought stress in perennial trees. Here, we implemented a systems genetics approach that combines co-expression analysis, association genetics, and expression quantitative trait nucleotide (eQTN) mapping to construct an allelic genetic regulatory network comprising four key regulators (PtoeIF-2B, PtoABF3, PtoPSB33, and PtoLHCA4) under drought stress conditions. Furthermore, Hap_01PtoeIF-2B, a superior haplotype associated with the net photosynthesis, was revealed through allelic frequency and haplotype analysis. In total, 75 candidate genes related to drought stress were identified through transcriptome analyses of five Populus cultivars (P. tremula x P. alba, P. nigra, P. simonii, P. trichocarpa, and P. tomentosa). Through association mapping, we detected 92 unique SNPs from 38 genes and 104 epistatic gene pairs that were associated with six drought-related traits by association mapping. eQTN mapping unravels drought stress-related gene loci that were significantly associated with the expression levels of candidate genes for drought stress. In summary, we have developed an integrated strategy for dissecting a complex genetic network, which facilitates an integrated population genomics approach that can assess the effects of environmental threats.
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