Validation of an allele-specific marker associated with dehydration stress tolerance in a core set of foxtail millet accessions

Abstract

Dehydration responsive element binding (DREB) genes play an important role in improving and enhancing stress tolerance of plants in response to abiotic stresses by interacting with DRE/CRT cis- element present in the promoter region of various stress-responsive genes. Thus, characterization of these genes and development of functional markers for effective alleles is important for crop improvement programmes. Identification of a synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism associated with dehydration tolerance at 558th bp (an A/G transition) in the SiDREB2 gene of foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) and development of an allele-specific marker (ASM) has previously been reported by us. Here, we report on validation of the ASM in a core set of 170 foxtail millet accessions through single-marker regression analysis. The regression of lipid peroxidation (LP) on the ASM suggested that the SiDREB2 associated trait contributed to 27.18% of the total variation in LP among the 170 accessions indicating it to be a major QTL for dehydration tolerance. Thus, this ASM can be used for marker-aided breeding and allele-mining for dehydration tolerance in foxtail millet.