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A major quantitative trait locus conferring subgynoecy in cucumber

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Abstract

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A major QTL conditioning high degree of femaleness in cucumber was identified by marker analysis and next generation sequencing.

Abstract

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a model species for sex determination studies, and its yield is associated with the degree of femaleness. Subgynoecy represents a sex form with a high degree of femaleness for which the genetic basis remains elusive. In this study, genetic analysis in the F2 and BC1 populations developed from a cross between subgynoecious S-2-98 and monoecious M95 suggested a quantitative nature of subgynoecy. Application of simple sequence repeat markers between subgynoecious and monoecious bulks constructed from BC1 plants identified three QTLs: sg3.1, sg6.1, and sg6.2. The major QTL sg3.1 contributed to 54.6 % of the phenotypic variation, and its presence was confirmed by genome-wide comparison of SNP profiles between parental lines and a subgynoecious bulk constructed from BC6 plants. Using PCR-based markers developed from the SNP profile, sg3.1 was further delimited to a genomic region of 799 kb. The genetic basis of subgynoecy revealed here shall shed light on the development of elite cultivars with high yield potential.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Yiqun Weng and Arjan van Zeijl for their help with revising the manuscript and Tao Lin for his help with SNP profiling. This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC: 31225025), the National Program on Key Basic Research Projects in China (The 973 Program: 2012CB113900), the National High Tech Research Development Program in China (The 863 Program: 2010AA10A108, 2012AA100101), and the Chinese Ministry of Finance (1251610601001).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops of Ministry of Agriculture, Sino-Dutch Joint Lab of Horticultural Genomics, Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

      Fengjiao Bu, Qiuxiang Shi, Qian Zhou, Dongli Gao, Zhonghua Zhang & Sanwen Huang

    2. Hunan Vegetable Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Science, Changsha, 410125, China

      Huiming Chen

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    1. Fengjiao Bu
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    Correspondence to Sanwen Huang.

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    Communicated by H. J. van Eck.

    F. Bu, H. Chen and Q. Shi contributed equally.

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    Bu, F., Chen, H., Shi, Q. et al. A major quantitative trait locus conferring subgynoecy in cucumber. Theor Appl Genet 129, 97–104 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-015-2612-z

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