Mapping of genes influencing zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) uptake in lentil seed and QTL analysis

This study evaluated to construct lentil (Lens culinaris Medic.) linkage map and detect the QTL(s) that associated with Zn and Mn concentrations in the seeds. Zn and Mn concentrations in the seeds of 120 RILs developed from the cross of "CDC Redberry" × "ILL7502" lentil ranged from 24.6 to 58.8 mg/kg and from 8.5 to 26.8 mg/kg, respectively, based on means of seed grown in three locations in both 2012 and 2013. A linkage map of lentil was constructed consisting of seven linkage groups that include 5,385 DNA markers. The total linkage map length was 973.1 cM with an average distance between markers of 0.18 cM. For Zn, a total of 7 QTL regions were detected and explained 5.5-9.1% of the phenotypic variation with LOD scores ranging from 3.0 to 4.5 and for Mn, six QTL regions were detected and explained 15.3-24.1% of the phenotypic variation with LOD scores ranging from 3.00 to 4.42. These high-density maps increase fundamental knowledge of the genome structure of lentil and will inform the development of micronutrient enriched lentil genotypes to support biofortification efforts.