Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Molecular Characterization of a Supergene Conditioning Super-High Vitamin C in Kiwifruit Hybrids

John McCallum
* ORCID logo ,
William Laing
,
Sean Bulley
,
Susan Thomson
,
Andrew Catanach
ORCID logo ,
Martin Shaw
,
Mareike Kanebel
ORCID logo ,
Jibran Tahir
,
Simon Deroles
,
Gail Timmerman-Vaughan
,
Ross Crowhurst
,
Elena Hilario
ORCID logo ,
Matthew Chisnall
,
Robyn Lee
,
Richard Macknight
,
Alan Seal
Version 1 : Received: 27 June 2019 / Approved: 28 June 2019 / Online: 28 June 2019 (08:09:04 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

McCallum, J.; Laing, W.; Bulley, S.; Thomson, S.; Catanach, A.; Shaw, M.; Knaebel, M.; Tahir, J.; Deroles, S.; Timmerman-Vaughan, G.; Crowhurst, R.; Hilario, E.; Chisnall, M.; Lee, R.; Macknight, R.; Seal, A. Molecular Characterisation of a Supergene Conditioning Super-High Vitamin C in Kiwifruit Hybrids. Plants 2019, 8, 237. McCallum, J.; Laing, W.; Bulley, S.; Thomson, S.; Catanach, A.; Shaw, M.; Knaebel, M.; Tahir, J.; Deroles, S.; Timmerman-Vaughan, G.; Crowhurst, R.; Hilario, E.; Chisnall, M.; Lee, R.; Macknight, R.; Seal, A. Molecular Characterisation of a Supergene Conditioning Super-High Vitamin C in Kiwifruit Hybrids. Plants 2019, 8, 237.

Abstract

During analysis of kiwifruit derived from hybrids between the high AsA species Actinidia eriantha and A. chinensis var chinensis, we observed bimodal segregation of fruit AsA concentration suggesting major gene segregation. To test this hypothesis we performed whole-genome sequencing on pools of high and low AsA fruit from tetraploid A. chinensis var. deliciosa x A. eriantha backcross families. Pool-GWAS revealed a single QTL spanning more than 5 Mbp on chromosome 26, which we denote as qAsA26.1. A co-dominant PCR marker was used to validate this association in four diploid (A. chinensis x A. eriantha) x A. chinensis backcross families, showing that the eriantha allele at this locus increases fruit AsA levels by 250 mg/100 g fresh weight. Inspection of genome composition and recombination in other A. chinensis genetic maps confirmed that the qAsA26.1 region bears hallmarks of suppressed recombination. The molecular fingerprint of this locus was examined in leaves of backcross validation families by RNASEQ. This confirmed strong allelic expression bias across this region as well as differential expression of transcripts on other chromosomes. This evidence suggests that the region harboring qAsA26.1 constitutes a supergene, which may condition multiple pleiotropic effects on metabolism.

Keywords

kiwifruit; genomics; polyploidy; breeding; ascorbic acid; vitamin C

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Plant Sciences

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Download PDF

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0
Get PDF Cite Share 0
Bookmark BibSonomy Mendeley Reddit Delicious
×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.