Multiple Loci and Epistases Control Genetic Variation for Seed Dormancy in Weedy Rice (Oryza sativa)

Weedy rice has much stronger seed dormancy than cultivated rice. A wild-like weedy strain SS18-2 was selected to investigate the genetic architecture underlying seed dormancy, a critical adaptive trait in plants. A framework genetic map covering the rice genome was constructed on the basis of 156 BC₁ [EM93-1 (nondormant breeding line)//EM93-1/SS18-2] individuals. The mapping population was replicated using a split-tiller technique to control and better estimate the environmental variation. Dormancy was determined by germination of seeds after 1, 11, and 21 days of after-ripening (DAR). Six dormancy QTL, designated as qSD^S-4, -6, -7-1, -7-2, -8, and -12, were identified. The locus qSD^S-7-1 was tightly linked to the red pericarp color gene Rc. A QTL × DAR interaction was detected for qSD^S-12, the locus with the largest main effect at 1, 11, and 21 DAR (R² = 0.14, 0.24, and 0.20, respectively). Two, three, and four orders of epistases were detected with four, six, and six QTL, respectively. The higher-order epistases strongly suggest the presence of genetically complex networks in the regulation of variation for seed dormancy in natural populations and make it critical to select for a favorable combination of alleles at multiple loci in positional cloning of a target dormancy gene.