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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Breeding
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1356750

Genetic dissection of stem and rachis prickles in diploid rose using a pedigree-based QTL analysis

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Texas A&M University, College Station, United States
  • 2 Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and Development, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, College Station, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Prickles are often deemed undesirable traits in many crops, including roses (Rosa sp.), and there is demand for rose cultivars with no or very few prickles. This study aims to identify new and/or validate reported quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with stem and rachis prickle density, characterize the effects of functional haplotypes for major QTLs, and identify the sources of QTL-alleles associated with increased/decreased prickle density in roses. Using a pedigree-based analysis (PBA) of two multi-parental diploid rose populations (TX2WOB and TX2WSE), 12 QTLs were identified on linkage groups (LGs) 2, 3, 4, and 6. The major QTLs for the stem prickle density were located between 42.25 and 45.66 Mbp on chromosome 3 of the Rosa chinensis genome assembly, with individual QTLs explaining 18 to 49% of phenotypic variance (PVE). The remaining mapped QTLs were minor. As for the rachis prickle density, several QTLs were detected on LG3, 4, and 6 with PVE 8 to 17%. Also, this study identified that ancestors R. wichurana ‘Basye’s Thornless’, ‘Old Blush’, and the pollen parent of M4-4 were common sources of favorable alleles (q) associated with decreased prickle density, whereas ‘Little Chief’ and ‘Srche Europy’ were the source of unfavorable alleles (Q) in the TX2WOB and TX2WSE populations, respectively. The outcomes of this work complement other studies to locate factors that affect prickle density. These results can also be utilized to develop high-throughput DNA tests and apply parental selection to develop prickle-free rose cultivars.

    Keywords: FlexQTL, haplotype, prickle density, QTL, Rosa

    Received: 16 Dec 2023; Accepted: 16 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Rawandoozi, Barocco, Rawandoozi, Klein, Byrne and Riera-Lizarazu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zena Rawandoozi, Texas A&M University, College Station, United States
    Oscar Riera-Lizarazu, Texas A&M University, College Station, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.