Genome-wide association study identifies various loci underlying agronomic and morphological traits in diversified potato panel

Potato is one of the most important food crops all over the world. Breeding activities for this crop are mainly aimed to improve the quality and yield of tuber. However, genetic architecture of various traits contributing to the quality and yield of potato are not yet completely understood. Genome wide association studies provides a broader way to identify the genomic regions associated with various traits. Panels of 237 tetraploid potato genotypes from different countries were grown for two consecutive years 2016 and 2017 at experimental research area of Potato research center Niğde, Turkey. A genome wide association study using SolCAP 12K array was performed for various morpho-agronomic traits. Structure algorithm and neighborhood joining analysis clearly divided all genotypes into 4 clusters on the basis of their origin. For the marker trait association, Mixed Linear Model in TASSEL was performed and 36 genomic regions were found for the traits under study. The mean r2 value was found to be 0.92 and mean significant LD was 47.5% in the populations. LD patterns reflected the breeding history of potato. The findings of present study provide a framework which could be useful for future potato breeding programs to enhance the production and to reduce the challenges in the coming years to feed world’s population.