AUTHOR=Zhang Hui , Dean Lisa , Wang Ming Li , Dang Phat , Lamb Marshall , Chen Charles 

TITLE=GWAS with principal component analysis identify QTLs associated with main peanut flavor-related traits

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2023.1204415

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2023.1204415

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=Peanut flavor is a complex and important trait affected by raw material and processing technology owing to its significant impact on consumer preference. In this research, principal component analysis (PCA) on 33 representative traits associated with flavor revealed that the first three principal components (PCs): total sugars, sucrose, and total tocopherols, provided more information related to peanut flavor. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) using 102 U.S. peanut mini core collection were performed to study associations between 12,526 single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) markers and the three PCs. A total of seven and twenty-two significant quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified to be significantly associated total sugars and sucrose, respectively. Around these QTLs, four and eight candidate genes for the two traits were mined. In addition, two and five stable QTLs were identified for total sugars and sucrose in both years separately. No significant QTLs were detected for total tocopherols. Results from this research provide useful knowledge about the genetic control of peanut flavor, which will aid in clarifying the molecular mechanisms of flavor research in peanut.