Utilization of elite Korean japonica rice varieties for association mapping of heading time, culm length, and amylose and protein content.

Association mapping is widely used in rice and other crops to identify genes underlying important agronomic traits. Most association mapping studies use diversity panels comprising accessions with various geographical origins to exploit their wide genetic variation. While locally adapted breeding lines are rarely used in association mapping owing to limited genetic diversity, genes/alleles identified from elite germplasm are practically valuable as they can be directly utilized in breeding programs. In this study, we analyzed genetic diversity of 179 rice varieties (161 japonica and 18 Tongil-type) released in Korea from 1970 to 2006 using 192 microsatellite markers evenly distributed across the genome. The 161 japonica rice varieties were genetically very close to each other with limited diversity as they were developed mainly through elite-by-elite crosses to meet the specific local demands for high quality japonica rice in Korea. Despite the narrow genetic background, abundant phenotypic variation was observed in heading time, culm length, and amylose and protein content in the 161 japonica rice varieties. Using these varieties in association mapping, we identified six, seven, ten, and four loci significantly associated with heading time, culm length, and amylose and protein content, respectively. The sums of allelic effects of these loci showed highly significant positive correlation with the observed phenotypic values for each trait, indicating that the allelic variation at these loci can be useful when designing cross combinations and predicting progeny performance in local breeding programs.