Natural variation and gene regulatory basis for the responses of asparagus beans to soil drought.

ABSTRACT: Asparagus bean (Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis) is the Asian subspecies of cowpea, a drought-resistant legume crop native to Africa. In order to explore the genetic variation of drought responses in asparagus bean, we conducted multi-year phenotyping of drought resistance traits across the Chinese asparagus bean mini-core. The phenotypic distribution indicated that the ssp. sesquipedalis subgene pool has maintained high natural variation in drought responses despite known domestic bottleneck. Thirty-nine SNP loci were found to show an association with drought resistance via a genome-wide association study (GWAS). Whole-plant water relations were compared among four genotypes by lysimetric assay. Apparent genotypic differences in transpiration patterns and the critical soil water thre

SUBMITTER: Xu P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4621818 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature