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Comparative Study
. 2021 Aug 13;16(8):e0255922.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255922. eCollection 2021.

Comparative evolution of vegetative branching in sorghum

WenQian Kong  1   2 , Pheonah Nabukalu  3 , T Stan Cox  3 , Valorie Goff  1 , Jon S Robertson  1 , Gary Pierce  1 , Cornelia Lemke  1 , Rosana Compton  1 , Jaxk Reeves  2 , Andrew H Paterson  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Comparative evolution of vegetative branching in sorghum

WenQian Kong et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Tillering and secondary branching are two plastic traits with high agronomic importance, especially in terms of the ability of plants to adapt to changing environments. We describe a quantitative trait analysis of tillering and secondary branching in two novel BC1F2 populations totaling 246 genotypes derived from backcrossing two Sorghum bicolor x S. halepense F1 plants to a tetraploidized S. bicolor. A two-year, two-environment phenotypic evaluation in Bogart, GA and Salina, KS permitted us to identify major effect and environment specific QTLs. Significant correlation between tillering and secondary branching followed by discovery of overlapping sets of QTLs continue to support the developmental relationship between these two organs and suggest the possibility of pleiotropy. Comparisons with two other populations sharing S. bicolor BTx623 as a common parent but sampling the breadth of the Sorghum genus, increase confidence in QTL detected for these two plastic traits and provide insight into the evolution of morphological diversity in the Eusorghum clade. Correspondence between flowering time and vegetative branching supports other evidence in suggesting a pleiotropic effect of flowering genes. We propose a model to predict biomass weight from plant architecture related traits, quantifying contribution of each trait to biomass and providing guidance for future breeding experiments.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Population development of the two BC1F2.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Correlation coefficients among days to flowering (FL), plant height (PH), number of mature tillers (TL) and number of secondary branches (BRCH) in the H4 and H6- derived SBSH-BC1F2 populations in four environments.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Single marker analysis of the number of mature tillers in the H4, H6 and pooled SBSH BC1F2 population.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Single marker analysis for the number of secondary branches per tiller in the H4, H6-derived and the pooled BC1F2 populations.
Fig 5
Fig 5. QTL correspondence for flowering time (FL), tillering (TL), and secondary branching (BRCH) in SBSH-BC1F2, ISRIL and PQRIL populations in physical distance.
Links are the duplication events in sorghum [42].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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