The genetics of pod-filling in peanut under water-limiting conditions
Authors: Hovav Ran , Ozias-Akins Peggy , Jackson Scott A. 
Published: January 2022

Pod-filling, an important yield-determining stage is strongly influenced by water stress. This is particularly true for peanut (Arachishypogaea), wherein pods are developed underground and are directly affected by the water condition. Pod-filling in peanut has a significant genetic component as well, since genotypes are considerably varied in their pod-fill (PF) and seed-fill (SF) potential. The goals of this research were to: Examine the effects of genotype, irrigation, and genotype X irrigation on PF and SF. Detect global changes in mRNA and metabolites levels that accompany PF and SF. Explore the response of the duplicate peanut pod transcriptome to drought stress. Study how entire duplicated PF regulatory processes are networked within a polyploid organism. Discover locus-specific SNP markers and map pod quality traits under different environments. The research included genotypes and segregating populations from Israel and US that are varied in PF, SF and their tolerance to water deficit. Initially, an extensive field trial was conducted to investigate the effects of genotype, irrigation, and genotype X irrigation on PF and SF. Significant irrigation and genotypic effect was observed for the two main PF related traits, "seed ratio" and "dead-end ratio", demonstrating that reduction in irrigation directly influences the developing pods as a result of low water potential. Although the Irrigation × Genotype interaction was not statistically significant, one genotype (line 53) was found to be more sensitive to low irrigation treatments. Two RNAseq studies were simultaneously conducted in IL and the USA to characterize expression changes that accompany shell ("source") and seed ("sink") biogenesis in peanut. Both studies showed that SF and PF processes are very dynamic and undergo very rapid change in the accumulation of RNA, nutrients, and oil. Some genotypes differ in transcript accumulation rates, which can explain their difference in SF and PF potential; like cvHanoch that was found to be more enriched than line 53 in processes involving the generation of metabolites and energy at the beginning of seed development. Interestingly, an opposite situation was found in pericarp development, wherein rapid cell wall maturation processes were up-regulated in line 53. Although no significant effect was found for the irrigation level on seed transcriptome in general, and particularly on subgenomic assignment (that was found almost comparable to a 1:1 for A- and B- subgenomes), more specific homoeologous expression changes associated with particular biosynthesis pathways were found. For example, some significant A- and B- biases were observed in particular parts of the oil related gene expression network and several candidate genes with potential influence on oil content and SF were further examined. Substation achievement of the current program was the development and application of new SNP detection and mapping methods for peanut. Two major efforts on this direction were performed. In IL, a GBS approach was developed to map pod quality traits on Hanoch X 53 F2/F3 generations. Although the GBS approach was found to be less effective for our genetic system, it still succeeded to find significant mapping locations for several traits like testa color (linkage A10), number of seeds/pods (A5) and pod wart resistance (B7). In the USA, a SNP array was developed and applied for peanut, which is based on whole genome re-sequencing of 20 genotypes. This chip was used to map pod quality related traits in a Tifrunner x NC3033 RIL population. It was phenotyped for three years, including a new x-ray method to phenotype seed-fill and seed density. The total map size was 1229.7 cM with 1320 markers assigned. Based on this linkage map, 21 QTLs were identified for the traits 16/64 weight, kernel percentage, seed and pod weight, double pod and pod area. Collectively, this research serves as the first fundamental effort in peanut for understanding the PF and SF components, as a whole, and as influenced by the irrigation level. Results of the proposed study will also generate information and materials that will benefit peanut breeding by facilitating selection for reduced linkage drag during introgression of disease resistance traits into elite cultivars. BARD Report - Project4540 Page 2 of 10