Genome-wide association studies provide genetic insights into natural variation of seed-size-related traits in mungbean

Although mungbean ( (L.) R. Wilczek) is an important legume crop, its seed yield is relatively low. To address this issue, here 196 accessions with 3,607,508 SNP markers were used to identify quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs), QTN-by-environment interactions (QEIs), and their candidate genes for seed length (SL), seed width, and 100-seed weight (HSW) in two environments. As a result, 98 QTNs and 20 QEIs were identified using 3VmrMLM, while 95, >10,000, and 15 QTNs were identified using EMMAX, GEMMA, and CMLM, respectively. Among 809 genes around these QTNs, 12 were homologous to known seed-development genes in rice and , in which 10, 2, 1, and 0 genes were found, respectively, by the above four methods to be associated with the three traits, such as for SL and for HSW. Eight of the 12 genes were significantly differentially expressed between two large-seed and two small-seed accessions, and , , , , , , and were further verified by RT-qPCR. Among 65 genes around these QEIs, , , , and were homologous to known seed-development genes in , although new experiments are necessary to explore these novel GEI-trait associations. In addition, 54 genes were identified in comparative genomics analysis to be associated with seed development pathway, in which , , , , and were also identified in genome-wide association studies. This result provided a reliable approach for identifying seed-size-related genes in mungbean and a solid foundation for further molecular biology research on seed-size-related genes.