Towards breeding for improved photosynthesis traits using the Arabidopsis thaliana model
Photosynthesis is one of the last plant traits in which there is significant room for further improvement in staple food crops. In the past decade, an increasing number of studies report that natural genetic variation is a promising route to improve photosynthesis traits in a large number of plant species. Most of these studies involve the use of analysing the genetic architecture of photosynthesis in diversity panels through genome-wide association studies. These are collections of model plant accessions exhibiting high diversity. However, as thousands of genes encode for proteins that locate to the chloroplasts alone, determining the exact alleles that can be used to breed for improved traits is difficult. This makes photosynthesis a highly complex trait to decipher. Bi-parental mapping populations derived from parental genotypes exhibiting contrasting phenotypes offer a simplified genetic architecture over diversity panels. Such populations also offer a good starting point to test novel photosynthesis traits and quantitative trait loci in isogenic backgrounds. In addition, chromosome substitution line (CSL-)populations are a novel type of bi-parental population with potential for high mapping power. In this work, three different bi-parental mapping populations, a RIL, an F2 and a CSL-population were used to study a variety of photosynthesis traits under various (fluctuating) light- and environmental conditions. The scientific model plant Arabidopsis thaliana was used here, because of its compact leaf architecture, fast growth architecture and ease of generating new genetic mapping populations. This study highlights a role for copy number variation in sterol biosynthesis genes to affect photosynthesis, presents the discovery and utility of large effect size QTLs for photosynthetic acclimation under high light conditions and describes a novel approach to screening mapping populations for productivity under fluctuating light conditions. Additionally, as CSL-populations are a novel genetic mapping type, developmental and analytical strategies have been developed to efficiently use them. Together, this study demonstrates the high QTL detection power of bi-parental mapping populations to explore genes and methodology to increase photosynthesis efficiency in plants. The genes and methods as described in this work should aid those interested in seeking ways to further enhance photosynthesis in crops, as well as provide a strategic framework to efficiently make use of chromosome substitution lines in plant breeding and quantitative genetic analyses.
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| Format: | Doctoral thesis biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Wageningen University
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| Subjects: | Life Science, |
| Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/towards-breeding-for-improved-photosynthesis-traits-using-the-ara |
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