Environmental effects on mineral accumulation in rice grains and identification of ecological specific QTLs

Optimizing the beneficial mineral elements in rice grains is of interest for rice breeders. To study the environmental effects on mineral accumulation in rice grains, we grew a double-haploid (DH) population derived from the cross between cultivars Chunjiang 06 (CJ06, a japonica rice) and TN1 (an indica rice) under two different ecological environments (Lingshui and Hangzhou, China) and determined the content of Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, P, and Zn in brown rice. These contents show transgressive variation among the DH lines. Subsequently, the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for mineral accumulation in rice grain were mapped on the chromosomes using CJ06/TN1 population. For the 7 mineral elements investigated, 23 and 9 QTLs were identified for Lingshui and Hangzhou, respectively. Of these, 24 QTLs were reported for the first time in this study and 8 QTLs are consistent with previous reports. Only 2 QTLs for Mg accumulation have been detected in both environments, indicating that mineral accumulation QTLs in rice grains are largely environment dependent. Additionally, co-localizations of QTLs for Mn and Zn, Mg and P, and Mg and Mn accumulation have been observed, implying that these loci might be involved in the accumulation of different elements. Furthermore, the QTLs for the accumulation of Fe, K, Mg, Mn, P, and Zn were mapped to a region close to each other on chromosomes 8 and 9, suggesting that clusters of genes exist on chromosomes 8 and 9. Further characterization of these QTLs will provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanism responsible for mineral accumulation in rice grains.