Identification of major stable QTLs for flower color in roses

authored by

A. Henz, T. Debener, M. Linde

Abstract

Flower color is one of the most important traits of ornamental roses. Anthocyanins are the major secondary metabolites responsible for the red and pink colors found among rose cultivars. Color varies depending on the combination of particular anthocyanins, their co-factors and their concentrations. Several genetic investigations have indicated that variation in flower color is dependent on monogenic factors and quantitative trait loci (QTL). Here, we analyze quantitative variation of total anthocyanins in diploid rose progeny. We demonstrate that the environment produces relatively small effects; the main causes of variation in anthocyanin content are the genetic differences between individuals. Two major QTLs were detected in all six tested environments. Four additional QTLs were found only in a subset of the environments. Some of the QTLs either co-segregate or are located close to the map positions of known structural genes of the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway or transcriptional regulators of anthocyanin biosynthesis. This information might be used to characterize tetraploid parental genotypes for their potential to pass on higher anthocyanin contents to their progeny.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Plant Genetics
Section Molecular Plant Breeding

External Organisation(s)

Uppsala University

Type

Article

Journal

Molecular breeding

Volume

35

ISSN

1380-3743

Publication date

29.10.2015

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Biotechnology, Molecular Biology, Agronomy and Crop Science, Genetics, Plant Science

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-015-0382-6 (Access: Unknown)