Genetic analyses of nitrogen assimilation enzymes in Brassica juncea (L.) Czern & Coss

Nitrogen (N) is a critical input for plant growth and development. A better understanding of N uptake and utilization is important to develop plant breeding strategies for improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). With that objective in mind, we assayed a SNP-genotyped association panel comprising 92 inbred lines for the activities of nitrate reductase (NR), nitrite reductase (NIR), glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamate synthase (GOGAT). All these enzymes are associated with N assimilation. The experiments were carried out at two levels of N application: no added N (N₀) and agrnomically recommened dose (100 kg/ha) of N application (N₁₀₀). Genome wide association studies (GWAS) helped to identify several marker-trait associations (MTAs), involving chromosomes A01, A06, A08, B02, B04, B05 and B08. These explained high phenotypic variation (up to 32%). Annotation of the genomic region(s) in or around significant SNPs allowed prediction of genes encoding high affinity nitrate transporters, glutamine synthetase 1.3, myb-like transcription factor family protein, bidirectional amino acid transporter 1, auxin signaling F-box 3 and oxidoreductases. This is the first attempt to use GWAS for identification of enzyme QTLs to explain variation for nitrogen assimilation enzymes in Brassica juncea.