QTL Identification and Fine Mapping for Seed Storability in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Rice seed storability is an important characteristic of seed quality so that the cultivars with strong seed storability are expected in the production of hybrid seeds. Presently, little is known about the genetic and physiological mechanisms controlling rice seed storability. In this study, a double haploid population derived from the cross between a japonica cultivar CJ06 and an indica cultivar TN1 was used to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for seed germination percentage (GP) and fatty acid content (FA) during natural storage or artificial aging. A total of 19 QTLs, including ten QTLs for GP and nine QTLs for FA, were identified on nine chromosomes with the phenotypic variations ranged from 2.1 to 22.7%. Besides, six and three pairs of epistatic interactions were identified for GP and FA, respectively. Moreover, qGP-9, a QTL for germination percentage, was delimited in an interval of 92.8 kb between two STS markers P6 and P8, which contains 15 putative open reading frames. These results provide important information for understanding the genetic mechanisms on rice seed storability, and will be useful for breeding new rice varieties with high seed storability.