The QTL qHUS6 for hull silicon content in rice was previously located on the short arm of rice chromosome 6. By using an F2:3 population segregating in the RM587-RM19784 region harboring qHUS6 in an isogenic background, two QTLs for hull silicon content were detected, of which qHUS6-1 was located in the distal region and qHUS6.2 in the region proximal to the centromere. Three rice plants carrying small heterozygous segments in the target region were selected, of which two covered the qHUS6-1 region and the other covered the qHUS6-2 region. Three F2:3 populations were derived from the selfed seeds of the three plants, respectively. QTL mapping was performed using the two populations segregating in the qHUS6-1 region, and qHUS6-1 was delimited to a 147.0-kb region flanked by the markers RM510 and RM19417. Five groups of F3 lines with different genotypic compositions in the qHUS6-2 region were selected from the other F2-3 population. Two QTLs were separated with two-way ANOVA, of which qHUS6-2a was located in the interval defined by RM19706-RM19795 and qHUS6-2b in the interval RM314-RM19665.
Wu Ji-rong FAN Fang-jun DU Jing-hong FAN Ye-yang ZHUANG Jie-yun
A rice residual heterozygous line (RHL) carrying a heterozygous segment extending from RM111 to RM19784 on the short arm of rice chromosome 6 was selected from a RHL-derived population used previously. The resultant F2:3 population was used to detect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for three yield traits, the number of spikelets per panicle (NSP), the number of grains per panicle (NGP) and grain yield per plant (GY). Two QTLs for NSP, one QTL for NGP and one QTL for GY were detected, all of which were partially dominant and had the enhancing alleles from the maternal line Zhenshan 97B. Analysis based on the genotypic groups of the markers closely linked to the two QTLs for NSP indicated that they did not interact with each other. Two F2 populations and two near isogenic line (NIL) sets segregating in two sub-regions of interval RM111-RM19784 were developed. The two QTLs for NSP were validated, of which one had major effect and was co-segregated with heading date gene Hdl, and the other had smaller effect and was located in an upper region linked to Hdl. The two regions also showed significant effects on the number of filled grain and grain yield, although the effect on the number of filled grain was less consistent.
GONG Jun-yiDU Jing-hongFAN Ye-yangWU Ji-rongZHUANG Jie-yun