Genetic mapping of the root-mycobiota in rice and its role in drought tolerance

Résumé

Background Rice is the second most produced crop worldwide, but it is highly susceptible to drought-induced yield loss. Micro-organisms can potentially alleviate the negative effects of drought but how they are associated with their host is unclear. The aim of the present study was to unravel the genetic factors involved in this process, and whether it plays a role in rice drought tolerance.
Results To achieve this, we characterized the composition of the root-mycobiota in 296 rice accessions (Oryza sativaL. subsp. indica), grown in the field under control and drought conditions. A Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) was used to identify marker-trait associations between rice Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers and root mycobiota. This resulted in the identification of ten significant (LOD > 4) SNPs associated with six root associated fungi and four significant SNPs associated with fungi-mediated drought tolerance. The analysis of the genes underlying the loci of the significant markertrait associations identified a priori candidates including genes known to be involved in pathogen defense, abiotic stress responses and cell-wall remodeling processes.
Conclusion Our study shows that the rice genetics affects the recruitment of fungi, some of which affect yield under drought, and provides candidate gene targets for breeding to improve rice-fungal interactions and drought tolerance.

Auteurs, date et publication :

Auteurs Beatriz Andreo-Jimenez , Dennis E. te Beest , Willem Kruijer , Nathan Vannier , Niteen N. Kadam , Giovanni Melandri , S. V. Krishna Jagadish , Gerard Linden , Carolien Ruyter-Spira , Philippe Vandenkoornhuyse , Harro J. Bouwmeester

Date : 2023