Here, we present a phenotypic evaluation of heading date in two large populations of RIL lines and identify newly developed SNP markers associated with QTLs affecting heading date in hexaploid oat. In addition, we performed a comparative analysis using a reference genome to improve information on candidate genes and heading-related QTLs in oat. Heading date was collected in RIL lines from the oat populations FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1 and URS Taura × Leggett under field conditions in a subtropical environment in southern Brazil, where weather conditions vary considerably from year to year. These weather variations can make it difficult to interpret flowering time data and to identify the phenotypic and genetic patterns associated with this important adaptive trait in oats. In addition to environmental factors, the complexity and size of the allohexaploid oat genome and the quantitative inheritance of flowering time have further limited the study and effectiveness of phenotype-based selection for this trait in oat breeding programs, especially in subtropical environments.
Oat genotypes differ in their growth and developmental patterns in response to photoperiod, vernalization, ambient temperature, and the combination of these environmental cues (Trevaskis et al., 2022). In subtropical regions such as southern Brazil, consistent natural vernalization conditions may not occur during the early stages of the oat plant's vegetative cycle. Consequently, growing oat cultivars with specific vernalization requirements in these environments could be challenging in years when temperatures do not meet these requirements. To address this issue, the parents FL0206B-S-B-S1, UFRGS 078030-1, URS Taura and Leggett were selected for their lack of vernalization response before crossing, to eliminate the influence of vernalization on the phenotypic evaluation of heading date in this study. Therefore, the variation in days to heading and the identified QTLs in both populations, evaluated across different years and sowing dates within the same year, are attributed to photoperiod and temperature responses, and the interaction between these environmental factors.
The phenotypic difference between the parents of the FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1 population and the different trials was not very large. However, the FL0206B-S-B-S1 parent consistently had the highest number of days to heading in all field trials compared to the UFRGS 078030-1 parent. Based on the photoperiod data collected during the trials, both parents were sensitive to day length. The difference in heading date between the parents may be related to the ability of UFRGS 078030-1 to flower at shorter day lengths and lower temperatures (Fig. 1a, 1c, and S1). Many RIL lines from the FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1 population showed transgressive segregation for heading date (Fig. 1a, 1c). The presence of RIL lines with earlier heading date than UFRGS 078030-1 and later than FL0206B-S-B-S1 indicates natural allelic differences in the parental genome, segregation of a relatively large number of flowering time genes in the progeny, recombination of alleles from the parents, complex gene interactions in key pathways controlling heading date in response to photoperiod and temperature, and environmental influences on gene expression. Similarly, transgressive segregation in heading date has been observed in RIL lines from Brazilian oat populations (Locatelli et al. 2006; Nava et al. 2012) and from a southern oat population with parental complementary genes for earliness (Sunstrum et al. 2019).
The parents of the URS Taura × Leggett population showed significant differences in days to heading. Leggett consistently had the highest number of days to heading in all field trials. While both parents in this population showed some degree of photoperiod sensitivity, Leggett tended to flower under long day length conditions. In addition, the number of days to heading was dependent on higher temperatures in Leggett compared to URS Taura (Fig. 1b, 1d, and S1). It is important to note that Leggett is an oat cultivar adapted to the environmental conditions of western Canada, where plants experience long photoperiods and moderate to high temperatures from the beginning of the vegetative cycle. This is in contrast to the growing seasons of southern Brazil. In western Canada, Leggett typically heads early, with an average of 57 days to heading (Fetch et al. 2007). However, the field trials conducted for this study showed a very late phenotype with an average of 100 to 119 days to heading. On the other hand, URS Taura is well adapted to the growing conditions of southern Brazil, except for its susceptibility to crown rust. URS Taura flowers early and has been the dominant oat cultivar grown in Brazil for many years. Despite the large phenotypic variation in days from emergence to heading among the 326 RIL lines in the URS Taura × Leggett population, the variation was mainly concentrated between the phenotypes observed for the URS Taura and Leggett parents, with a few RIL lines showing transgressive segregation. These results suggest that URS Taura and Leggett carry different alleles for integrating genes such as Vrn3, CO, and GI, which are involved in interpreting environmental signals and controlling the final steps of the flowering induction pathways.
The field data showed that the URS Taura × Leggett population had a higher level of contrast adaptation than the FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1 population (Fig. 1). This increased contrast adaptation, combined with the high marker density and genome coverage, contributed to the identification of SNP markers associated with QTLs affecting heading date, with a more significant effect observed in the URS Taura × Leggett population. These factors probably compensated for the lower number of RIL lines evaluated for heading date in all trials within the URS Taura × Leggett compared to the FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1. In the FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1 population, the average range of heading dates in the RIL lines across all trials was 21 days, while the sum of the average QTL effects at the nine identified QTLs was nine days. In the URS Taura × Leggett population, the average range of heading dates in the RIL lines across all trials was 39 days, and the sum of the average QTL effects at the seven identified QTLs was 18 days. These results suggest the presence of additional unidentified QTLs in both populations. Despite the reasonable size of the populations evaluated and the QTLs identified in this study, the relatively low marker density limited the detection of additional oat loci closely linked to the heading date. In addition, evaluation of heading date in a wider range of environments, including growth chamber tests at different photoperiods and temperatures, may have revealed new QTLs. These limitations probably also prevented the identification of similar genomic regions controlling heading date between the FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1 and URS Taura × Leggett populations.
Comparative analyses showed that the QTLs affecting heading date in the FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1 and URS Taura × Leggett populations were similarly distributed across the A, C, and D oat genomes. In addition, most of the SNP markers associated with QTLs affecting heading date in our study were supported by candidate genes and numerous other QTLs documented in the literature (Fig. 2, Supplementary Tables S2 and S3). In the FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1 population, the genomic region on Mrg02 (chr7D) had the strongest additive effect on the heading date trait in all environments. Several candidate genes were identified in this region, including Hd3a, an ortholog of the Vrn3 gene in small grains, and the FT gene in Arabidopsis. The FT candidate gene was linked to our newly developed SNP markers avgbs1601155_57 and avgbs809730_11 on Mrg06 (chr5D). A Vrn3 locus has recently been mapped on oat chromosome 7D, corresponding to the Mrg02 linkage group of the oat consensus map (Tinker et al. 2022). Hd3a, Vrn3, and FT integrate the vernalization and photoperiod response pathways and encode a transferable signaling molecule that is produced in leaves and transported to function in the shoot apical meristem to promote flowering (Maple et al. 2024; Yan et al. 2006). Several historical QTLs have been reported in this region, including a large QTL for photoperiod response in the UFRGS 881971//Pc68/5*Starter population. This QTL was associated with the Di1 (daylength insensitivity 1) gene, an ortholog of the HD1 (heading date 1) gene in rice, and the CO gene in Arabidopsis (Locatelli et al. 2006). The oat loci on Mrg05 (chr6A) were also consistent across environments and were associated with the PRR37 gene, which acts as a pseudo-response regulator and belongs to a class of genes involved in circadian clock function. The PRR37 gene is an ortholog of Ppd1, the main determinant of photoperiod sensitivity in wheat and barley (Turner et al. 2005). Several historical QTLs have also been reported in the Mrg05 genomic region, and most of these QTLs were photoperiod dependent.
Major loci associated with QTLs affecting heading date in the URS Taura × Leggett population were identified in all environments. The locus associated with Mrg12 (chr7A) significantly reduced the heading date in early planting and was linked to the candidate genes VIL3 and Hd3a (= Vrn3). Similarly, a Vrn3 locus has recently been mapped on oat chromosome 7A, corresponding to the Mrg12 linkage group (Tinker et al. 2022). Furthermore, several QTLs related to photoperiod and vernalization responses have previously been detected in this genomic region. In a study reported by Sunstrum et al. (2019), a QTL identified on Mrg12 showed strong and significant effects in all trials, and was also associated with QTLs identified in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) consisting mainly of spring germplasm (Klos et al. 2016). The QTL on Mrg13 (chr2C) also had a strong additive effect and was associated with the candidate gene PIF3, a phytochrome interacting factor required for normal photoinduced signaling. In Arabidopsis, leaf expression of the FT gene (= Vrn3) is activated by a molecular network involving phytochromes (Trevaskis et al. 2022). However, this region was not associated with any annotated QTL on GrainGenes. Interestingly, the QTL on Mrg11 (chr4C) was linked to the candidate genes GI and COL13, which play an important role in the regulation of flowering by photoperiod. In our study, this QTL delayed the heading date in the URS Taura × Leggett population when evaluated in the early planting. This result is in agreement with a previous study in rice, where overexpression of the GI gene results in a delay in flowering time, with a more pronounced effect under short days (Brandoli et al. 2020). An oat QTL affecting photoperiod-dependent heading date was also associated with Mrg11 in a GWAS study performed by Bekele et al. (2018).
The heading date QTL on Mrg02 (near consensus position 87) identified in the FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1 population, and the QTL on Mrg12 (near consensus position 30) identified in the URS Taura × Leggett population, are likely to represent identical genomic regions carrying important genes controlling flowering time in oat. These QTLs may also correspond to those identified on Mrg02 (near consensus position 87) and Mrg12 (near consensus position 41) from the TX07CS-1948 × Hidalgo cross, which was evaluated for crown rust resistance, days to heading, and plant height in different years and treatments in Canada (Sunstrum et al. 2019). It is noteworthy that Mrg02 and Mrg12 are likely to be homeologous chromosomes carrying the Vrn3 gene in oat (Klos et al. 2016). Oat loci corresponding to the Mrg15 (chr3C) and Mrg24 (chr5C) linkage groups were also linked to the Hd3a candidate gene in the URS Taura × Leggett population. This is intriguing as both genomic regions differ from where the three Vrn3 loci were mapped in the study reported by Tinker et al. (2022). In addition, the Mrg06 (chr5D) linkage group was associated with the FT candidate gene, and Hd3a was mapped twice at relatively long positions in the Mrg02 (chr7D) linkage group in the FL0206B-S-B-S1 × UFRGS 078030-1 population. Combining the results of this study with the role of the Vrn3 gene in integrating different flowering time pathways raises the question of whether there may be more than three copies of this gene in hexaploid oat. Further research is needed to determine the copy of Vrn3 in the oat genome and the adaptive consequences associated with possible variations in the copy number.
Heading date is the most important phenological stage in the growth and development of oats and serves as a key factor for adaptation and productivity as a crop species. The adaptive contrast of the parents based on their geographical origin contributed to the identification of genomic regions with strong additive effects on heading date in the two genetic populations. Most of these QTLs have already been reported in various studies available in the literature, increasing confidence for use by the scientific community and oat breeding programs. Advances in the sequencing and annotation of the oat genome have allowed reliable association of candidate genes with these genomic regions. Although this study is limited in its scope and depth of functional gene analysis, it is interesting to note that candidate genes associated with the positions of the oat loci affecting heading date in both populations perform a variety of biological functions as flowering regulators, mainly in the perception and response to photoperiodic pathways. No QTLs were associated with major genes involved in the vernalization response pathway, except for Vrn3, which is involved in both the vernalization and photoperiod pathways. Allelic variability for photoperiod response genes is essential for the adaptation of oat to different latitudes and the expansion of cultivation to new regions of the world. The validation of these markers linked to central flowering genes will be valuable for molecular selection in oat breeding programs aimed at developing new and improved oat cultivars adapted to specific growing conditions.