Fine mapping of grain weight QTL, tgw11 using near isogenic lines from a cross between Oryza sativa and O. grandiglumis

In our previous study, we reported the grain weight (GW) QTL, tgw11 in isogenic lines derived from a cross between Oryza sativa ssp. Japonica cv. Hwaseong and O. grandiglumis. The O. grandiglumis allele at tgw11 decreased GW in the Hwaseong background. To fine-map tgw11, one F5 plant homozygous for the O. grandiglumis DNA in the target region on chromosome 11 was selected from F4 line, CR1242 segregating for tgw11 and crossed with Hwaseong to produce secondary F2 and F3 populations. QTL analysis using 760 F2 plants confirmed the existence of tgw11 with an R2 value of 15.0%. This QTL explained 32.2% of the phenotypic variance for GW in 91 F3 lines. Substitution mapping with 65 F3 lines with informative recombination breakpoints in the target region was carried out to narrow down the position of the tgw11. The result indicated that tgw11 was located in the 900-kb interval between two SSR markers, RM224 and RM27358. QTLs for grain width and grain thickness were also located in the same interval suggesting that a single gene is involved in controlling these three traits. Analysis of F3 lines indicated that the variation in TGW is associated with variation in grain shape, specifically grain thickness and grain width. Genetic analysis indicated that the O. grandiglumis allele for small seed was dominant over the Hwaseong allele. SSR markers tightly linked to the GW QTL would be useful in marker-assisted selection for variation in GW in breeding program.