Development and application of molecular markers linked to single and double flowers in northern Chinese lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)

Abstract

Lotus (Nelumbo Adans.) is a versatile plant with ornamental, edible, medicinal, water purification, and cultural significance. The wide variation in petal numbers, particularly the double-petal cultivars, contributes to its ornamental value. However, traditional breeding methods, which require growing seedlings to maturity to identify single or double flowers, are time-consuming (ranging from one to three years) and costly. This study mapped the quantitative trait locus (QTL) for single/double-petal traits to the 0.90–4.40 Mb region on chromosome 5 using the F₁ generation of the traditional cultivar ‘Dan Sajin’. Within this region, 78 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and insertion-deletion (InDel) loci were identified, showing significant genotypic differences between single- and double-petal traits. A C/T SNP locus at Chr.5: 1,400,097 bp (marker H8) was selected from 42 single-petal and 35 double-petal lotus samples, demonstrating the highest resolution for distinguishing between the two flower types. In three hybrid combinations of Asian lotus (excluding single-petal lotus from south of the Yangtze River), seedlings with CC or CT genotypes consistently produced single-petal flowers (100% at maturity), while those with the TT genotype yielded double-petal flowers with an 85.7% probability. The H8 marker promises to significantly reduce production costs in lotus breeding, offering a simple, rapid, low-cost, and highly efficient method.

Keywords

Asian lotus / Double flower / Molecular marker / Nelumbo / QTL mapping / Seedling stage identification

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Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China(32071821)

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

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