title: Ecological characteristics and in situ genetic associations for yield-component traits of wild Miscanthus from eastern Russia.
abstract: Background and aims Miscanthus is a genus of perennial C4 grasses native to East Asia. It includes the emerging ligno-cellulosic biomass crop M. ×giganteus, a hybrid between M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus. Biomass yield and cold tolerance are of particular interest in Miscanthus, given that this crop is more temperate adapted than its C4 relatives maize, sorghum and sugarcane. Methods A plant exploration was conducted in eastern Russia, at the northern extreme of the native range for Miscanthus, with collections including 174 clonal germplasm accessions (160 M. sacchariflorus and 14 M. sinensis) from 47 sites. Accessions were genotyped by restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) and plastid microsatellites. Key Results Miscanthus sinensis was found in maritime climates near Vladivostok (43·6°N) and on southern Sakhalin Island (46·6°N). Miscanthus sacchariflorus was found inland at latitudes as high as 49·3°N, where M. sinensis was absent. Most M. sacchariflorus accessions were diploid, but approx. 2 % were tetraploids. Molecular markers revealed little population structure (Jost's D < 0·007 among diploid groups) but high genetic diversity (expected heterozygosity = 0·14) within the collection of Russian M. sacchariflorus. Genome-wide association (GWA) analysis for traits measured at the collection sites revealed three M. sacchariflorus single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly associated with the number of stems per unit area, one with height and one with basal stem diameter; three were near or within previously described sorghum quantitative trait loci for related traits. Conclusions This new Miscanthus germplasm collection from eastern Russia will be useful for breeding Miscanthus and sugarcane cultivars with improved adaptation to cold. Moreover, a strategy is proposed to facilitate the rapid utilization of new germplasm collections: by implementing low-cost SNP genotyping to conduct GWA studies of phenotypic data obtained at collection sites, plant breeders can be provided with actionable information on which accessions have desirable traits and alleles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1201 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61802, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsay V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, 42-44 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, 190000 St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dzyubenko
authors.affiliation: Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, 42-44 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, 190000 St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Nikolay
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dzyubenko
authors.affiliation: Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, 42-44 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, 190000 St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Larisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bagmet
authors.affiliation: Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, 42-44 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, 190000 St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Andrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sabitov
authors.affiliation: Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, 42-44 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, 190000 St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chebukin
authors.affiliation: USDA-ARS Forage and Range Research Lab, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-6300, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jens Bonderup
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Kjeldsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, Aarhus University, Kirstinebjergvej 10, DK-5792 Årslev, Denmark.
authors.forename: Karen Koefoed
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.affiliation: Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark.
authors.forename: Uffe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Jørgensen
authors.affiliation: Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Gangwon 200-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Ji Hye
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.affiliation: Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Gangwon 200-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Kweon
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.affiliation: Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Gangwon 200-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Chang Yeon
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture and Forestry Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Agronomy Department, Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Resource of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Science and Technology Center, China Seed Group Co. Ltd, Wuhan, Hubei 430040, China.
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1201 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61802, USA.
authors.forename: Erik J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Sacks
keywords: 
            Miscanthus sacchariflorus
          ; 
            Miscanthus sinensis
          ; Chloroplast; Russia; genome-wide association analysis (GWAS); germplasm; population genetics; restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq); single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)