title: Association of SSR markers with functional traits from heat stress in diverse tall fescue accessions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Heat stress is a critical threat to tall fescue in transitional and warm climate zones. Identification of association between molecular markers and heat tolerance-related functional traits would promote the efficient selection of heat tolerant tall fescue cultivars. Association analysis of heat tolerance-related traits was conducted in 100 diverse tall fescue accessions consisting of 93 natural genotypes originating from 33 countries and 7 turf-type commercial cultivars.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The panel displayed significant genetic variations in growth rate (GR), turfgrass quality (TQ), survival rate (SR), chlorophyll content (CHL) and evapotranspiration rate (ET) in greenhouse and growth chamber trials. Two subpopulations were detected in the panel of accessions by 1010 SSR alleles with 90 SSR markers, but no obvious relative kinship was observed. 97 and 67 marker alleles associated with heat tolerance-related traits were identified in greenhouse trial and growth chamber trial (P < 0.01) using mix linear model, respectively. Due to different experimental conditions of the two trials, 2 SSR marker alleles associated with GR and ET were simultaneously identified at P < 0.01 level in two trials in response to heat stress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High-temperature induced great variations of functional traits in tall fescue accessions. And the identified marker alleles associated with functional traits could provide important information about heat tolerance genetic pathways, and be used for molecular assisted breeding to enhance tall fescue performance under heat stress.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, P.R. China. 544842269@qq.com.|The Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Genetic and Improvement of Jiangxi, Institute of Biology and Resources, Jiangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanchang, 330096, China. 544842269@qq.com.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, P.R. China. 283452193@qq.com.
authors.forename: Zhimin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, P.R. China. renjing879@163.com.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, P.R. China. amomboeric@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Erick
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Amombo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, P.R. China. hut420@wbgcas.cn.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, P.R. China. jfu@wbgcas.cn.
authors.forename: Jinmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D060146:Ecotype; D031751:Festuca / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics*; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D005819:Genetic Markers; D018869:Heat-Shock Response / Q000235:genetics*; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D018526:Plant Transpiration; D011157:Population Dynamics; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D002734:Chlorophyll