The candidate genomic regions related to pod length were identified by QTL-seq.

RNA-seq analysis showed that DEGs between parents were mainly involved in the regulation of cell wall development.

Arahy.PF2L6F (AhCDC48) and Arahy.P4LK2T (AhTAA1) were speculated to be PL-related candidate genes.

Pod length (PL) is one of the major traits determining pod size and yield of peanut. Discovering the quantitative trait loci (QTL) and identifying candidate genes associated with PL are essential for breeding high-yield peanut. In this study, quantitative trait loci sequencing (QTL-seq) was performed using the F2 population constructed by a short-pod variety Tifrunner (Tif) and a long-pod line Lps, and a 0.77 Mb genomic region on chromosome 07 was identified as the candidate region for PL. Then, the candidate region was narrowed to a 265.93 kb region by traditional QTL approach. RNA-seq analysis showed that there were four differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the candidate region, among which Arahy.PF2L6F (AhCDC48) and Arahy.P4LK2T (AhTAA1) were speculated to be PL-related candidate genes. These results were informative for the elucidation of the underlying regulatory mechanism in peanut pod length and would facilitate further identification of valuable target genes.

Peanut

Pod length

QTL-seq

RNA-seq

Candidate genes

Whole Genome Re-sequencing data have been submitted to the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/, accessed on 08 January 2024) database with the accession number PRJNA1061351. RNA-Seq data have been submitted to the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/, accessed on 23 April 2022) database with the accession number PRJNA828366.

© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.