Development of Oryza rufipogon and O. sativa introgression lines and assessment for yield-related quantitative trait loci

Introgression lines population was effectively used in mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs), identifying favorable genes, discovering hidden genetic variation, evaluating the action or interaction of CTLs in multiple conditions and providing the favorable experimental materials for plant breeding and genetic research. In this study, an advanced backcross and consecutive selfing strategy was used to develop introgression lines (ILs), which derived from an accession of Oryza rufipogon Griff. collected from Yuanjiang County, Yunnan Province of China, as the donor, and an elite indica cultivar Teqing (O. sativa L.), as the recipient. Introgression segments from O. rufipogon were screened using 179 polymorphic simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers in the genome of each IL. Introgressed segments carried by the introgression lines population contained 120 ILs covering the whole O. rufipogon genome. The mean number of homozygous O. rufipogon segments per introgression line was about 3.88. The average length of introgressed segments was approximate 25.5 cM, and about 20.8% of these segments had sizes less than 10 cM. The genome of each IL harbored the chromosomal fragments of 0. rufipogon ranging from 0.54% to 23.7%, with an overall average of 5.79%. At each locus, the ratio of substitution of O. rufipogon alleles had a range of 1.67-9.33, with an average of 5.50. A wide range of alterations in morphological and yield-related traits were also found in the introgression lines population. Using single-point analysis, a total of 37 putative QTLs for yield and yield components were detected at two sites with 7%-20% explaining the phenotypic variance. Nineteen QTLs (51.4%) were detected at both sites, and the alleles from O. rufipogon at fifteen loci (40.5%) improved the yield and yield components in the Teqing background. These O. rufipogon -O. sativa introgression lines will serve as genetic materials for Identifying and using favorable genes from common wild rice.