title: Natural variations in OsγTMT contribute to diversity of the α-tocopherol content in rice.
abstract: Tocopherols and tocotrienols, collectively known as tocochromanols, are lipid-soluble molecules that belong to the group of vitamin E compounds. Among them, α-tocopherol (αΤ) is one of the antioxidants with diverse functions and benefits for humans and animals. Thus, understanding the genetic basis of these traits would be valuable to improve nutritional quality by breeding in rice. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) has emerged as a powerful strategy for identifying genes or quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying complex traits in plants. To discover the genes or QTLs underlying the naturally occurring variations of αΤ content in rice, we performed GWAS using 1.44 million high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms acquired from re-sequencing of 137 accessions from a diverse rice core collection. Thirteen candidate genes were found across 2-year phenotypic data, among which gamma-tocopherol methyltransferase (OsγTMT) was identified as the major factor responsible for the αΤ content among rice accessions. Nucleotide variations in the coding region of OsγTMT were significantly associated with the αΤ content variations, while nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region of OsγTMT also could partly demonstrate the correlation with αΤ content variations, according to our RNA expression analyses. This study provides useful information for genetic factors underlying αΤ content variations in rice, which will significantly contribute the research on αΤ biosynthesis mechanisms and αΤ improvement of rice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University, Yesan, 340-702, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Xiao-Qiang
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University, Yesan, 340-702, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Min-Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University, Yesan, 340-702, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University, Yesan, 340-702, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Tae-Sung
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University, Yesan, 340-702, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University, Yesan, 340-702, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Bu-Woong
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, 336-745, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Sang
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University, Yesan, 340-702, Republic of Korea. yjpark@kongju.ac.kr.|Legume Bio-Resource Center of Green Manure (LBRCGM), Kongju National University, Yesan, 340-702, Republic of Korea. yjpark@kongju.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yong-Jin
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D017343:Genes, Plant; D014644:Genetic Variation; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D024502:alpha-Tocopherol / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D024502:alpha-Tocopherol
keywords: GWAS; OsγTMT; Rice; Tocochromanol; α-Tocopherol