Cowpea is an annual legume crop; although it is an essential food in developing countries, cowpea is now grown worldwide. For the genetic improvement of plants, flowering time is one of the major selection criteria. In general, flowering is regulated by photoperiod and temperature, along with the interaction between environmental factors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the candidate genes associated with flowering time using genome-wide association study (GWAS). To investigate the flowering time-related genes, 384 cowpea germplasms were genotyped with 51,128 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The main genetic component of days to flowering (DTF) was analyzed using genome association and prediction integrated tool (GAPIT) and elastic-net analyses. From the GAPIT and elastic-net analyses, a total of 23 SNPs were significantly associated with DTF among five (chr. 2, 3, 7, 9, and 11) and seven (chr. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9) different chromosomes, respectively. Based on our analysis, Vigun01g084000, Vigun01g227200, Vigun02g062600, and Vigun03g296800 were considered the major candidate genes that were significantly associated with DTF in cowpea. These results confirmed that DTF might be controlled by multiple genes affecting early flowering, delaying flowering time, repressing the transition to flowering, etc. This study will potentially contribute to effective DTF genomic selection in plant breeding to better understand the genetic basis and explore the mechanism of flowering time.

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We identified a loose upper panicle mutant (lup) from a japonica-type rice variety, Hwacheongbyeo, treated by Ethyl Methane Sulfonate (EMS). The lup mutant displayed an increased distance between spikelets particularly in the first primary branches, and the number of spikelet was reduced. In addition, aborted spikelets in the tip of first primary branches were observed. Besides these morphological changes in the panicle, the lup mutant also displayed overall reduction in culm length, panicle length, grain weight, and tiller number. On the contrary, the chlorophyll content was relatively high in lup mutant in comparison to wild-type plants, and displayed a “stay-green” phenotype even after physiological maturity. Genetic analysis (using F₂ population of lup/M.23) revealed that a single recessive gene is involved in the above-mentioned morphological changes in the lup mutant. A candidate genomic region was fine-mapped at an interval of 1.04 Mb flanked by two molecular markers, 18170 and D0052, on the long arm of chromosome 8. In this region, we found a total of 348 mutation points using a slightly modified MutMap method. Based on these results, we expect the candidate genomic region containing a putative LUP gene will provide an important clue in developmental regulation of spikelets and panicle in rice.

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