Genome-wide allele frequencies to reliably and accurately genotype buckwheat accessions

Several GBS pipelines are available to genetically characterize single genotypes, but these are not able to represent the genetic diversity of buckwheat accessions that are maintained as genetically heterogeneous, open-pollinating populations. MBP researchers and collaborators have developed a GBS pipeline which, rather than reporting the state of bi-allelic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), resolves allele frequencies within populations on a genome-wide scale. These genome-wide allele frequency fingerprints (GWAFFs) from 100 pooled individual plants per accession were found to be highly reproducible and revealed the genetic similarity of the 20 different buckwheat accessions analysed in our study. The GWAFFs cannot only be used as an efficient tool to precisely genotype buckwheat breeding material, they also offer new opportunities to investigate the genetic diversity between different buckwheat accessions and establish variant databases for key material. Furthermore, GWAFFs provide the opportunity to associate allele frequencies to phenotypic traits and quality parameters that are most reliably described on population level. This is the key to practically implement powerful genomics-assisted breeding concepts such as marker-assisted selection and genomic selection in future breeding schemes of allogamous buckwheat.

This work is the result of a fruitful collaboration between MPB, the Crop Science group of ETH Zurich and the Crop Science Department of Tegasac. The article was featured in a special edition of Folia Biologica et Geologica containing the conference proceedings of the International Symposium on Buckwheat 2019.

Citation:
Nay MM, Byrne SL, Pérez EA, Walter A and Studer B (2020) Genetic characterisation of buckwheat accessions through genome-wide allele frequency fingerprints. Folia Biologica et Geologica 61/1:17-23
external page https://doi.org/10.3986/fbg0063