The Orchid Research Team at the Institute of Environmental Horticulture, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has made new progress in molecular markers for flower traits and functional gene mining of the Mokara orchid. Recently, their findings were published in Horticultural Research. The first author of the paper, Dr. Yang Fengxi, a researcher at the Institute of Environmental Horticulture, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, explained that the National Orchid is a traditional and valuable flower species in China, renowned for its fragrant scent and diverse petal shapes. Varieties with large flowers, elegant flower forms, and unique petal shapes are particularly sought after. Flower petal traits have become key factors in determining the ornamental and economic value of National Orchids and in promoting the development of their industry. However, molecular marker-assisted functional gene mining in National Orchids and in orchids in general has not been reported.
This study focused on the Guangdong characteristic National Orchid species, Mokara, and conducted a detailed evaluation of 195 Mokara varieties. The evaluation covered 14 floral traits, including flower quantity, number of tepals, horizontal and vertical diameters, flower length-to-width ratio, and the length, width, and length-to-width ratios of sepals, petals, and labellum. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) technology was used to perform a genome-wide association analysis for these traits.
A total of 65,318,522 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 3,906,176 insertions and deletions (Indels) were identified in the study. Of these, 4,694 SNPs and 477 Indels were found to be significantly associated with the 14 floral traits (-log10(P) > 5). The genes associated with these SNPs and Indels were mainly involved in flower regulation, hormone pathways, cell division, and metabolism. Furthermore, 20 candidate SNPs and Indels associated with 11 genes were validated, confirming the reliability of the data.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhad206