QTL mapping of sheath blight resistance in a deep-water rice cultivar

Abstract

Sheath blight, caused by the pathogen Rhizoctonia solani Kühn, is one of the most serious diseases of rice and leads to severe yield loss worldwide. A recombinant inbred line (RIL)
population consisting of 121 lines was constructed from a cross between HH1B and RSB03, the latter of which is a deep-water
rice variety. Five traits were used to evaluate sheath blight resistance, namely disease rating (DR), lesion length (LL),
lesion height (LH), relative lesion length [RLL, the ratio of LL to plant height (PH)], and relative LH (RLH, the ratio of
LH to PH). Using the RIL population and 123 molecular markers, we identified 28 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for the five
traits in two environments. These QTLs are located on nine chromosomes and most of them are environment specific. A major
QTL for DR (qSBR1) on chromosome1 was identified with contributions of 12.7% at Shanghai and 42.6% at Hainan, and it collocated with a QTL
for PH. The allele at this locus from RSB03 enhances sheath blight resistance and increases PH. Another QTL for DR on chromosome7
was adjacent to QTLs for heading date (HD) and four other disease traits. RSB03 also carries the resistant allele at this
locus and shortens HD. The susceptible parent, HH1B, provides the resistance allele at the locus qSBR8, where QTLs for four other disease traits were identified. QTL mapping results showed that most QTLs for LL, LH, RLL, and
RLH are collocated with QTLs for DR. Three QTLs for DR are independent from HD, PH, and four other disease traits, while four
QTLs are closely related to HD and PH. Four QTLs for LL, LH, RLL, and RLH are independent from DR, HD, and PH, while there
is only one region harboring QTLs for these four traits and HD. Correlation analysis and QTL mapping results indicated that
LL, LH, RLL, and RLH might be important indices, like DR, for evaluating the level of resistance to rice sheath blight.

KeywordsDeep-water rice cultivar–QTLs–RILs–Sheath blight resistance