Differentiation, evolution and utilization of natural alleles for cold adaptability at the reproductive stage in rice

Abstract

Genetic studies on cold tolerance at the reproductive stage in rice could lead to significant reductions in yield losses. However, knowledge about the genetic basis and adaptive differentiation, as well as the evolution and utilization of the underlying natural alleles, remains limited. Here, 580 rice accessions in two association panels were used to perform genome‐wide association study, and 156 loci associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage were identified. Os01g0923600 and Os01g0923800 were identified as promising candidate genes in qCTB1t, a major associated locus. Through population genetic analyses, 22 and 29 divergent regions controlling cold adaptive differentiation inter‐subspecies (Xian/Indica and Geng/Japonica) and intra‐Geng, respectively, were identified. Joint analyses of four cloned cold‐tolerance genes showed that they had different origins and utilizations under various climatic conditions. bZIP73 and OsAPX1 differentiating inter‐subspecies evolved directly from wild rice, whereas the novel mutations CTB4a and Ctb1 arose in Geng during adaptation to colder climates. The cold‐tolerant Geng accessions have undergone stronger selection under colder climate conditions than other accessions during the domestication and breeding processes. Additive effects of dominant allelic variants of four identified genes have been important in adaptation to cold in modern rice varieties. Therefore, this study provides valuable information for further gene discovery and pyramiding breeding to improve cold tolerance at the reproductive stage in rice.

Introduction

Rice (Oryza sativa L.), a staple cereal crop feeding half of the world population, evolved in tropical and subtropical areas and is sensitive to cold stress (Fairhurst and Dobermann, 2002; Huang et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2014). Cold damage affects both the vegetative (germination and seedling) and reproductive (booting and flowering) stages (Da Cruz et al., 2013). Cold sensitivity at the reproductive stage causes pollen abortion and the consequent sterility, leading to losses in yield (Shinada et al., 2013). To meet the growing demand for rice, it is necessary to expand cultivation areas to high‐latitude and high‐altitude regions, where the cold stress occurs more frequently. Estimates of 3‐5 million tons of rice are lost annually in China due to low temperatures in autumn (Zhu et al., 2015). Therefore, cold stress at the reproductive stage is a major limiting factor for rice production, especially in high‐latitude and high‐altitude regions. Asian cultivated rice comprises two main subgroups, Xian/Indica and Geng/Japonica (Glaszmann, 1987; Wang et al., 2018a), which have developed distinctive types of cold adaptability during domestication (Garris et al., 2005; Kovach et al., 2007). Generally, Geng accessions have better cold tolerance than Xian (Ma et al., 2015). Different climatic conditions in their cultivation areas, mainly temperature, promoted Xian‐Geng differentiation (Sang and Ge, 2007).

Dissection of the genetic basis of natural variation in cold tolerance is the way to improve low temperature tolerance. Cold tolerance at the reproductive stage is a complex quantitative trait controlled by multiple loci. Through traditional linkage analysis, some QTLs conferring cold tolerance at the reproductive stage have been identified (Andaya and Mackill, 2003; Dai et al., 2004; Endo et al., 2016; Liang et al., 2018; Suh et al., 2010; Xu et al., 2008; Ye et al., 2010; Zeng et al., 2009), and a few have been further fine‐mapped (Kuroki et al., 2007; Li et al., 2018; Shirasawa et al., 2012; Zhou et al., 2010), but only two genes, Ctb1 and CTB4a, have been cloned and functionally validated (Saito et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2017). Recently, genome‐wide association study (GWAS), a new genetic approach, has been used to clarify genetic structure and discover genes underlying important agronomic traits in rice, including grain size, heading date and plant architecture (Huang et al., 2010; Si et al., 2016; Yano et al., 2019; Yano et al., 2016; Yu et al., 2017). Some associated genes/QTL, such as OsSAP16, bZIP73 and qPSR10, controlling cold tolerance at the vegetative stage, have been identified by GWAS (Liu et al., 2018; Wang et al.,2018b; Xiao et al., 2018), but there were few studies regarding cold tolerance at the reproductive stage (Xiao et al., 2018), for which the underlying genetic bases are unclear.

Genes for important traits, that were selected and utilized during the domestication of cultivated rice, have different origins and evolutionary paths. Some of them originated directly from wild rice, whereas others were novel mutations selected in cultivated rice. During domestication and adaptation to cold, favourable alleles of COLD1, bZIP73 and qPSR10, controlling cold tolerance at the seedling stage, were directly selected from the existing variation in wild rice and promoted the cold adaptation and differentiation of Geng as a subspecies (Liu et al., 2018; Ma et al., 2015; Xiao et al., 2018). Contrarily, the favourable alleles of HAN1 and CTB4a, regulating cold tolerance at the seedling and booting stages, respectively, were selected from favourable mutations that occurred during domestication and breeding of Geng under cold climatic conditions (Mao et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2017).

In this study, genetic and phenotypic data for two association panels comprising 580 accessions were used in GWAS to identify the significant loci and candidate genes controlling variation in cold tolerance at the reproductive stage. Population genetic analyses were also carried out to understand the genetic basis of cold adaptive differentiation. Combined analyses were carried out to reveal the evolution and application of the identified genes for cold tolerance at the reproductive stage. Our findings provide important information for further gene discovery and pyramiding breeding of cold tolerance at the reproductive stage in rice.

Results

Phenotypic variation and adaptation to cold between and within subspecies

Five hundred and eighty accessions from 38 countries, including 358 Xian and 222 Geng accessions (Zhao et al., 2018), were phenotyped for this study. These accessions were divided into two panels for different methods of cold treatment. Panel 1 with 522 accessions was treated under natural cold stress conditions in a high‐altitude area (CS‐HAA) (Table S1), where the daily average temperature was below the critical temperature (20°C) required for full fertility (Figure S1a‐c). Panel 2 consisted of 155 accessions that were evaluated under artificial cold stress in deep water (CS‐DW) (Table S2, Figure S1d, e). Phenotypic analysis showed that there was extensive variation in both subspecies in both panels (Table S3, Figure 1a, b). Seed‐setting rates of Geng were significantly higher than those of Xian in both panels (Figure 1c), indicating that Geng had better cold adaptability than Xian at the reproductive stage. To screen elite germplasms for genetic improvement of cold tolerance, we classified accessions in Panel 1 into five groups according to seed‐setting rate; 59.8% of cold‐tolerant accessions (levels 1 and 3) were Geng, whereas 82.2% of cold‐sensitive accessions (levels 5, 7 and 9) were Xian (Figure 1d). Some accessions, mainly from northeast China and the Yungui Plateau (Yunnan and Guizhou provinces) stood out with strong cold tolerance at the reproductive stage (Table S4).

Figure 1.

Phenotypic characterization of the association panels. (a, b) Distribution of the seed‐setting rates for accessions in Panel 1 (a) and Panel 2 (b). (c) Comparison of the seed‐setting rates among subgroups in both panels. (d) Distribution of subgroups for different levels of cold tolerance. (e) Comparison of the seed‐setting rates among Geng accessions from the southwest plateau, and northeast, central and north China. (f) Distribution of Geng accessions from Panel 1 in China. GJ/G, Geng; XI/X, Xian. Significance of differences was determined by double‐tailed Student’s t‐tests.

Geng cultivars were generally considered to have acquired better cold adaptability than Xian during domestication. We confirmed clear differentiation between them in cold adaptability at the reproductive stage (Figure 1c, Figure S2). As the main source of cold‐tolerant germplasms and genes, Geng has played important roles in basic research and breeding for cold tolerance. To understand the cold adaptive differentiation within Geng, we compared the cold tolerance of Geng accessions from different regions in China. Accessions from northeast China and the southwest plateau exhibited stronger cold tolerance than those from north and central China (Figure 1e), indicating that cold adaptability at the reproductive stage also differentiated to some extent within Geng.

To verify the underlying external factors affecting adaptive differentiation to cold, the geographic distribution of accessions with different levels of cold tolerance was investigated. The Xian subgroup including a large number of cold‐sensitive accessions was mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical areas, whereas Geng which included an abundant number of cold‐tolerant accessions had a wider distribution and predominated in temperate regions and subtropical areas with high altitude (Figure 1f, Figure S3). Cold‐sensitive Geng accessions were mainly distributed in low‐latitude regions, such as north and central China, whereas cold‐tolerant accessions were mainly distributed in high‐latitude and high‐altitude regions, such as northeast China and the southwest plateau (Figure 1f). These results suggested that different climate conditions, mainly temperature, were the driving force promoting the subspecies differentiation and that the cold‐tolerant Geng accessions likely evolved during adaptation of Geng to colder climates in high‐latitude and high‐altitude regions.

Genetic structure of natural variation in cold tolerance revealed by GWAS

We performed principal component analysis using SNPs in linkage equilibrium to understand the population structure of the two panels and found that both panels included both Xian and Geng accessions (Figure S4a, b). This was also supported by neighbour‐joining trees constructed using evenly distributed SNPs (Figure S4c, d). GWAS was performed in two association panels to reveal the genetic basis of natural variation in cold tolerance at the reproductive stage. From the quantile–quantile plots, the compressed mixed linear model was adopted because it better reduced the level of false positives than the general linear model (Figure S5). The significance threshold (P < 0.0001) was set based on the permutation tests (Figure S6), and the interval of significant loci was determined according to the population LD decay distance (Figure S7, Table S5). Forty loci associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage were identified in Panel 1, including 17, 21 and 10 loci detected in the full population, Geng and Xian subpopulations, respectively (Figure 2a, Figure S8), and 27 associated loci were identified in the Panel 2 population (Figure 2b).

Figure 2.

GWAS for cold tolerance at the reproductive stage in association panels. (a, b) Manhattan plots of GWAS in the full population of Panel 1 (a) and Panel 2 (b). Red and purple dots represent associated loci overlapping with reported QTLs and genes, respectively. (c) Summary of the identified loci. Each bar represents an associated locus. Blue and red dots indicate the loci co‐localized with reported QTLs and genes, respectively. (d) Venn diagram showing unique and shared loci identified in different populations. HAA‐7d and HAA‐5d indicate the populations from HAA‐7d‐group 1 to HAA‐7d‐group 4 and from HAA‐5d‐group 5 to HAA‐5d‐group 8, respectively, in Panel 1. HAA‐subp. indicates the full population, Geng and Xian subpopulations in Panel 1. DW‐full indicates the full population in Panel 2.

As different heading dates might affect the evaluation of cold tolerance at the reproductive stage under CS‐HAA conditions, we planted Panel 1 accessions at different dates (Figure S1c); four groups based on seven‐day windows of heading date were separately subjected to GWAS. Seventy‐eight loci associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage were detected in Panel 1 using this seven‐day window method (HAA‐7d). Among them, 21, 15, 24 and 22 loci were detected in populations from HAA‐7d‐group 1 to HAA‐7d‐group 4, respectively, and 4 loci were repeatedly detected among different groups (Figure S9). To compare the effect of different grouping windows, we also classified Panel 1 accessions into another four groups based on five‐day windows (HAA‐5d); 58 associated loci were detected, including 12, 9, 19 and 18 loci detected in populations from HAA‐5d‐group 5 to HAA‐5d‐group 8, respectively (Figure S10). There were 18 loci repeatedly detected by both grouping methods (Figure 2c, d), indicating a limited influence of grouping windows on GWAS results.

We identified 156 loci associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage in both panels with their detailed information summarized in Tables S6‐S7; they were widely distributed throughout the genome (Figure 2c, Figure S11). Among them, 14 and 8 loci were repeatedly detected between subpopulations and HAA‐7d groups, HAA‐5d groups, respectively, in Panel 1 (Figure 2d). By comparison with QTLs identified by linkage analysis, 27 loci were co‐localized with reported QTLs, and 13 of them were repeatedly detected in association panels (Table S7). Moreover, significant and overlapping signals were repeatedly detected for reported gene CTB4a in the HAA‐full and HAA‐7d‐group 3 populations. These results suggested that the grouping method well controlled the influence of heading date under CS‐HAA conditions, and the overlapping QTLs and gene indicated the reliability of our GWAS results.

Candidate gene analysis of major locus qCTB1t and characterization of CTB4a

Among the identified loci, a novel locus qCTB1t at 40–41 Mb on chromosome 1 was repeatedly detected with strong signals (Table S6). To determine the underlying candidate genes, we performed local LD analysis and found that qCTB1t corresponded to a 340 kb interval containing 37 predicted genes (Figure 3a). Among them, 8 genes possessing significant SNPs associated with cold tolerance in the HAA‐7d‐group 2 and HAA‐5d‐group 6 populations were selected as potential candidate genes for further analysis (Figure 3b). Tissue expression analysis showed that Os01g0923600 and Os01g0923800 were highly expressed in panicles, anthers and pistils, similar to the expression patterns of reported genes regulating cold tolerance at the booting stage (Figure S12). The results of cold‐induced expression analysis showed that Os01g0922800, Os01g0923600, Os01g0923700 and Os01g0923800 were cold‐inducible at the reproductive stage (Figure 3c). In addition, Os01g0923600, encoding a calmodulin‐binding transcription activator, was reported to possibly control cold tolerance at the seedling stage (Kim et al., 2014). Os01g0923800, encoding DnaJ domain protein C14, was annotated as being involved in response to stress (Sarkar et al., 2013). We concluded that Os01g0923600 and Os01g0923800 were the most likely candidate genes in qCTB1t.

Figure 3.

Candidate gene analysis of qCTB1t. (a) Local manhattan plots surrounding the peak of qCTB1t in HAA‐7d‐group 2 (left) and HAA‐5d‐group 6 (right) populations and corresponding genes overviews. Red bars indicate predicted genes possessing significant SNPs. (b) Details for eight potential candidate genes. (c) Cold‐induced expression analysis of eight potential candidate genes at the reproductive stage. Data represent means ± s.d. (n = 3).

Map‐based cloning using a biparental mapping population led to the cloning of CTB4a, encoding a receptor‐like kinase. This gene was considered to be important in conferring cold tolerance at the booting stage and enhancing adaptation to cold habitats (Zhang et al., 2017). In this study, we repeatedly detected qCTB4d on chromosome 4 in the HAA‐full and HAA‐7d‐group 3 populations, which contained CTB4a (Figure 2a, Figure S9c). Gene‐based association analysis identified some SNPs in the promoter of CTB4a that were significantly associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage (Figure S13a). Haplotype analysis showed that there were 7 haplotypes of CTB4a in HAA‐full population, and 4 of them were separately distributed in Geng or Xian subpopulations (Figure S13b). There were significant differences of cold tolerance among different haplotypes (Figure S13b), and accessions containing favourable alleles of CTB4a generally exhibited stronger cold tolerance at the reproductive stage (Figure S13c). These results further validated the role of CTB4a in regulating the variation in cold tolerance at the reproductive stage.

Genetic differentiation of cold adaptability inter‐subspecies and intra‐subspecies

To clarify the genetic basis underlying differences in cold adaptability between subspecies at the reproductive stage, we selected 140 Geng accessions with the highest cold tolerance level and 169 Xian accessions with the most sensitivity to cold, and with wide geographic distributions from Panel 1 (Table S1, Figure S14), and analysed the genetic differentiation between these two subspecies by population differentiation statistics (F _ST). The subspecies were highly divergent in 191 genomic regions (Figure 4a, Table S8). By comparing with loci identified in this study and reported QTLs/genes, we identified 22 highly divergent regions associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage. They contained 15 identified loci, 13 reported QTLs and 2 cloned genes (Figure 4c, Table S9). These divergent regions related to cold tolerance (DRCT) covered 1.78% (6.65 Mb) of the reference genome. Two cloned genes, OsAPX1 and bZIP73, conferring cold tolerance at the booting stage (Liu et al., 2019; Sato et al., 2011), as well as qCTB1t identified in this study, showed high divergence between Xian and Geng (Figure 4a, f). To examine whether these DRCT were under selection, their nucleotide diversity and Tajima’s D value were investigated. Based on the estimates of nucleotide diversity ratio, Xian generally possessed higher genetic diversity than Geng (Mean π _Jap /π _Ind  = 0.654). In addition, 68% of the DRCT had lower genetic diversity in Geng (Figure S15a, Table S9), and the average nucleotide diversity of DRCT in Geng (π = 0.00084) was significantly lower than that in Xian (π = 0.00118; Figure S15c), indicating that these DRCT might be under stronger selection in Geng than in Xian. Tajima’s D analysis showed that about 77% of the DRCT were under directional selection in Geng, and most of the DRCT did not escape from neutral evolution in Xian (Table S9), indicating that the DRCT between two subspecies were mainly under directional selection in Geng during the domestication.

Figure 4.

Genomic differentiation of cold adaptability at the reproductive stage. (a, b) Genomic differentiation between Geng and Xian (a), and within the Geng subspecies (b). GJ, Geng; XI, Xian; T‐GJ‐tmp, cold‐tolerant temperate Geng; S‐GJ‐tmp, cold‐sensitive temperate Geng. Gold columns indicate the divergent regions overlapping with GWAS signals or reported QTLs. Red columns indicate the divergent regions overlapping with reported cold tolerance genes. Horizontal dashed lines correspond to the top 5% threshold. (c) Comparison of the divergent regions (DR) detected inter‐subspecies with the QTLs/genes identified in this study or reported by linkage analysis. (d) Comparison of the divergent regions (DR) detected intra‐Geng with the QTLs/genes identified in this study or reported by linkage analysis. (e) Comparison of the divergent regions related to cold tolerance (DRCT) detected inter‐subspecies and intra‐Geng. (f) Genetic differentiation of several reported genes and a major associated locus. Blue and green lines represent the F _ST between Geng and Xian, and within Geng subspecies, respectively. Horizontal dashed lines correspond to the respective top 5% thresholds. Red vertical lines correspond to the positions of reported genes or associated loci.

Adaptive differentiation to cold was also analysed intra‐subspecies. Most Xian accessions were cold‐sensitive and differentiation of cold adaptability was very weak. However, Geng accessions were very different in cold tolerance compared with Xian. To investigate the genetic basis of the cold adaptive differentiation within Geng, we selected 35 cold‐tolerant and 31 cold‐sensitive Panel 1 accessions from different geographic locations (Table S1, Figure S16) and analysed the population differentiation between them. Ninety‐nine genomic regions were highly divergent between cold‐tolerant and cold‐sensitive Geng accessions (Figure 4b, Table S10). Twenty‐nine divergent regions overlapped with 29 identified loci, 13 reported QTLs and 1 cloned gene (Figure 4d, Table S11), covering 3.58% (13.37 Mb) of the reference genome. The cloned cold tolerance gene Ctb1, as well as qCTB1t, was obviously divergent within Geng (Figure 4b, f). Nucleotide diversity analysis showed that these DRCT possessed lower genetic diversity in cold‐tolerant Geng accessions (Figure S15b, Table S11). The average nucleotide diversity of DRCT in cold‐tolerant Geng (π = 0.00053) was significantly lower than that in cold‐sensitive Geng (π = 0.00252; Figure S15d), indicating that these DRCT could be under stronger selection in cold‐tolerant Geng than in cold‐sensitive Geng. Tajima’s D analysis showed that about 79% of the DRCT displayed directional selection in cold‐tolerant Geng, and 55% of the DRCT exhibited balancing selection in cold‐sensitive Geng (Table S11), indicating that the DRCT within Geng were mainly under directional selection in cold‐tolerant Geng, and half of them were under balancing selection in cold‐sensitive Geng.

A comparative analysis indicated that 11.5% of the divergent regions between Xian and Geng, and 29.3% of the divergent regions within Geng, contained at least one QTL/gene conferring cold tolerance at the reproductive stage (Figure 4c, d), but only three overlaps were found between the DRCT inter‐subspecies and intra‐Geng (Figure 4e). This indicated that there was a higher proportion of DRCT intra‐Geng than inter‐subspecies, and the genetic basis of cold adaptation intra‐Geng was distinctive from that inter‐subspecies.

Evolutionary histories and breeding applications of four cold‐tolerance genes

Few genes have been reported to confer cold tolerance at the reproductive stage, and their evolutionary relationships and breeding potential remain unclear. Currently, only four genes, Ctb1, OsAPX1, CTB4a and bZIP73, have been cloned to regulate cold tolerance at the reproductive stage (Liu et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2019; Saito et al., 2010; Sato et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2017). And we also identified them in this study through association analysis and population genetic analysis (Figure 4f, Figure S13). Moreover, we validated their involvement in the regulation of cold tolerance at the reproductive stage through haplotype‐level association analysis (Figure S17a). Among them, CTB4a was reported to have 9 haplotypes with its favourable haplotype present in the temperate Geng (Zhang et al., 2017). And the functional variation site of bZIP73 was reported divergent between Geng and Xian (Liu et al., 2018). We performed haplotype analysis of Ctb1 and OsAPX1 in order to understand their evolution relationships. Three and 6 haplotypes were identified for Ctb1 in Geng and Xian subpopulations, respectively, and Hap1 showing the strongest cold tolerance at the reproductive stage was identified as the favourable haplotype of Ctb1 (Figure S17b, d). There were 2 and 6 haplotypes of OsAPX1 in Geng and Xian subpopulations, respectively, and Hap1 of OsAPX1 was identified as the favourable haplotype (Figure S17c, e). Through a combined minimum spanning tree based on 75 wild rice and 494 cultivated rice accessions (Table S12), we found that the favourable alleles of bZIP73 and OsAPX1 evolved directly from the O. rufipogon III and were mainly retained in Geng. There were a few introgressions from Geng to Xian for Ctb1 and bZIP73 (Figure 5a). The favourable alleles of CTB4a and Ctb1 arose in temperate Geng and were subsequently retained (Figure 5a).

Figure 5.

Evolutionary relationship and breeding utilization of four identified genes conferring cold tolerance at the reproductive stage. (a) Evolution relationship of CTB4a, Ctb1, bZIP73 and OsAPX1 revealed by a combined minimum spanning tree. ‘+’ and ‘‐’ represent favourable and inferior alleles, respectively. (b) Allelic changes in CTB4a, Ctb1, bZIP73 and OsAPX1 during rice breeding. XI, Xian; GJ‐tmp, temperate Geng; GJ‐trp, tropical Geng; Or‐I to Or‐III, O. rufipogon I to III.

To understand the breeding utilization of CTB4a, bZIP73, OsAPX1 and Ctb1, we investigated the changes of allelic frequencies during rice breeding in 505 cultivated rice accessions (Table S12). The favourable alleles of these four genes were mainly distributed in Geng, including landraces and improved varieties, and were rare in Xian (Figure 5b). The favourable alleles of bZIP73 and OsAPX1 were retained in Geng during the domestication and had high proportions in landraces (86% and 88%) and improved varieties (91% and 93%; Figure 5b). On the contrary, there were relatively low proportions of favourable CTB4a and Ctb1 alleles in landraces (26% and 58%) and improved varieties (20% and 31%) of Geng (Figure 5b). These results suggested that bZIP73 and OsAPX1 have been widely used for improving cold tolerance in Geng subspecies and that there is still potential for utilization of favourable CTB4a and Ctb1 alleles in improving cold tolerance at the reproductive stage. To obtain detailed information about the regions of utilization, we analysed the geographic distributions of the four genes. Favourable alleles of CTB4a and Ctb1 were mainly present in high‐latitude and high‐altitude areas (Figure S18), whereas favourable alleles of bZIP73 and OsAPX1 were more widely distributed across all Geng planting regions (Figure S19), indicating that the utilization of CTB4a and Ctb1 might have promoted the expansion of Geng to high‐altitude and high‐latitude areas.

To clarify the potential for breeding utilization of cold‐tolerance alleles, a combined haplotype analysis for the four genes was performed. Favourable haplotype combinations were present mainly in Geng (Figure 6a). Moreover, genotypes combining more favourable alleles showed stronger cold tolerance (Figure 6a, b), implying that pyramiding of favourable alleles would be an effective method to further improve cold tolerance at the reproductive stage. From the geographic distribution, the inferior groups (V and VI) were mainly present in low‐latitude areas, whereas the favourable groups (I to IV) were mainly distributed in the high‐latitude and high‐altitude areas of northeast China, north China and the southwest plateau (Figure 6c, d). In addition, germplasms pyramiding more cold tolerance loci showed stronger cold tolerance at the reproductive stage on the basis of CTB4a, Ctb1, bZIP73 and OsAPX1 (Table S13, Figure 6e). These results indicated that favourable cold tolerance alleles or loci were required to be utilized simultaneously to adapt to the colder climates in high‐latitude and high‐altitude regions.

Figure 6.

Potential for breeding utilization of genes and loci regulating cold tolerance at the reproductive stage. (a) Combined haplotypes of CTB4a, Ctb1, bZIP73 and OsAPX1. ‘+’ and ‘−’ represent favourable and inferior alleles, respectively. GJ‐tmp, temperate Geng; GJ‐trp, tropical Geng. (b) Comparison of the seed‐setting rates and latitudes among different haplotype combinations. (c, d) Distribution of haplotype combinations in worldwide (c) and China (d). (e) Correlation analysis of cold tolerance at the reproductive stage and number of cold tolerance loci.

Discussion

Cold tolerance is a complex trait affected by environment and artificial cultivated factors. Different growth state and treatment conditions influence the accuracy of cold tolerance evaluation. Due to the influence of heading date and limits to cold treatment facilities, evaluation at the reproductive stage is more difficult than at other growth stages (Zhang et al., 2017). Natural low‐temperature conditions and artificial cold water treatment are the most commonly used methods to evaluate cold tolerance at the reproductive stage (Kuroki et al., 2007; Suh et al., 2010; Zeng et al., 2009). In this study, we used both methods to phenotype two association panels. Accessions in Panel 1 were evaluated under natural cold stress conditions. For this, we divided the accessions into different groups based on heading date. In this way, the accessions in each group showed little difference in heading date. The GWAS identified 156 loci associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage (Table S6), and some loci were repeatedly detected or were co‐localized with reported QTLs (Table S7). These can be foci for further research.

During the domestication of cultivated rice, cold adaptability differentiated gradually to adapt to the changing ecological habitats. Cold climates in rice‐growing areas promoted Xian‐Geng differentiation (Kovach et al., 2007). Geng cultivars are generally more cold tolerant than Xian cultivars (Ma et al., 2015). Within subspecies, there also existed germplasms with distinctive cold tolerance, especially in Geng, and these germplasms were chosen to construct biparental mapping populations (Dai et al., 2004; Zeng et al., 2009). We found that cold adaptability differentiated not only inter‐subspecies but also intra‐Geng (Figure 1C, E). Cold‐tolerant Geng accessions were mainly distributed in regions with relatively lower temperatures, including both temperate areas and subtropical areas with high altitudes (Figure 1f, Figure S3). We propose that temperature difference in different ecological habitats was the main driving force promoting Xian‐Geng differentiation. On the other hand, the high‐latitude and high‐altitude regions might be the major sources of cold‐tolerant Geng accessions. Twenty‐two and 29 DRCT were identified to control cold adaptive differentiation inter‐subspecies and intra‐Geng, respectively (Table S9, Table S11), with only a few overlaps being found, thus indicating the distinctive genetic bases of adaptation to cold between them.

We demonstrated that bZIP73 and OsAPX1 first evolved from the O. rufipogon III and were mainly retained in Geng. Subsequently, CTB4a and Ctb1 were retained during the adaptation of temperate Geng to colder climatic conditions (Figure 5a). Similar results were found for the genes conferring cold tolerance at the seedling stage. COLD1, bZIP73 and qPSR10 evolved from wild rice and also promoted the cold adaptation of Geng (Liu et al., 2018; Ma et al., 2015; Xiao et al., 2018). HAN1 was selected from favourable mutations in Geng under cold climatic conditions (Mao et al., 2019). Therefore, we propose that different cold‐tolerance genes with different origins were retained and utilized under different climates during the cold adaptation. Under normal climatic conditions, several cold‐tolerance genes evolved from the existing variation in wild rice and then retained in Geng subgroup. Nevertheless, under cold climatic conditions in high‐latitude and high‐altitude areas, novel mutations enabled temperate Geng to adapt to the colder climates.

During crop domestication, favourable alleles for important traits were selected and utilized to meet human demands (Sasaki et al., 2002; Yamanaka et al., 2004; Yan et al., 2011). The four currently reported genes, Ctb1, OsAPX1, CTB4a and bZIP73, could significantly enhance cold tolerance at the reproductive stage (Liu et al., 2019; Saito et al., 2010; Sato et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2017). The favourable bZIP73 and OsAPX1 alleles were retained in Geng during the domestication and have been widely utilized to improve cold tolerance in Geng subspecies (Figure 5b). While the favourable alleles of CTB4a and Ctb1 were mainly distributed in Geng accessions from high‐latitude and high‐altitude areas, there is still potential for further utilizing them to improve cold tolerance at the reproductive stage (Figure 5b, Figure S18a, c). Favourable haplotype combinations with more than two favourable alleles exhibited strong tolerance to cold stress and were mainly present in high‐latitude and high‐altitude areas (Figure 6c, d). And the cold‐tolerant germplasms containing CTB4a, Ctb1, bZIP73 and OsAPX1 also contained the favourable haplotypes of most significantly associated loci (Table S13, Figure 6e). CTB4a and Ctb1, which originated as novel mutations in Geng under cold climatic conditions, were utilized in landraces and leading cultivars, such as Gaoliqiu, Dandongludao, Laoguangtou 83 and Yundao1 from North Korea, northeastern China and Yunnan province. Their utilization might have promoted the expansion of Geng to high‐altitude and high‐latitude areas (Figure S18). We propose that further pyramiding of favourable cold tolerance alleles or loci will be an effective method to improve cold tolerance at the reproductive stage. For cold tolerance breeding in high‐latitude and high‐altitude areas and for further expansion of rice growing to much colder regions, both the genes coming from wild rice and those that subsequently arose as mutations in Geng and selected under cold conditions should be combined.

Conclusions

We detected 156 associated loci regulating natural variation in cold tolerance at the reproductive stage through GWAS and identified two candidate genes in the associated locus qCTB1t. Cold adaptability differentiated not only inter‐subspecies (between Xian and Geng) but also intra‐Geng. Twenty‐two and 29 DRCT controlling cold adaptive differentiation inter‐subspecies and intra‐Geng were identified respectively. There were few overlaps of DRCT between inter‐subspecies and intra‐Geng, indicating distinctive genetic bases of cold adaptive differentiation between them. Analyses of four identified genes indicated that cold‐tolerance genes with different origins were retained and utilized during the adaptation of rice to colder environments. Our findings confirmed that gene pyramiding will be an effective method to improve cold tolerance at the reproductive stage in rice.

Experimental procedures

Plant materials and sequencing

A total of 580 cultivated rice accessions from 38 countries, including 156 accessions from the mini‐core collection (Zhang et al., 2011) and 424 accessions from the International Rice Molecular Breeding Network (Yu et al., 2003), were phenotyped. Sequencing data were available from the 3000 Rice Genome Project (3KRGP) with an average sequencing depth of 15× (Alexandrov et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2018a). For an evolutionary analysis, an additional 123 cultivated rice accessions from 3KRGP and 75 wild rice accessions were added along with sequencing data for 65 wild rice accessions obtained from the published data (Huang et al., 2012).

Phenotyping

In the summer of 2014, 155 accessions in Panel 2 were sown at the ShangZhuang Experimental Station of China Agricultural University in Beijing and transplanted to the field (12.5 cm × 25 cm length plots) 30 days later. Five plants of each accession at the reproductive stage were transferred to a pool irrigated with cold water (16–18°C) for one week and then transplanted back to the field. After harvest, the relative seed‐setting rates of the treated plants were assessed and recorded. In the summer of 2015, 522 accessions in Panel 1 were sown at Yuxi (altitude, 1638 m) in Yunnan province, at 10‐day intervals. Heading dates were recorded, and average seed‐setting rates of five plants for each accession flowering at the same time were investigated after harvest. Detailed descriptions of two cold treatment methods were described in Zhang et al (2017).

According to the seed‐setting rates, five levels of cold tolerance at the reproductive stage were set, including level 1 (108 accessions with seed‐setting rates ≥ 80%), level 3 (138 accessions with seed‐setting rates 60%–80%), level 5 (96 accessions with seed‐setting rates 40%–60%), level 7 (124 accessions with seed‐setting rates 10%–40%) and level 9 (56 accessions with seed‐setting rates < 10%).

Population structure analysis

There were 6 997 165 and 4 625 142 SNPs in total in Panels 1 and 2, respectively. By using PLINK version 1.9 (window 50 bp, step size 5 bp, r ² < 0.3; Purcell et al., 2007), 316 749 and 117 639 SNPs in linkage equilibrium were screened from Panels 1 and 2, respectively, and were used to perform principal component analysis through GCTA software (Yang et al., 2011); 665 057 and 116 903 SNPs evenly distributed throughout the genome were screened from Panels 1 and 2, respectively, using an in‐house perl script and were used to construct neighbour‐joining tree in MEGA version 7 with the bootstrap method and 1000 replicates (Kumar et al., 2016).

GWAS

Totals of 3 851 692 and 3 002 287 high‐quality SNPs (MAF ≥ 5%, missing rate < 25%) from Panels 1 and 2, respectively, were used to perform GWAS using both the general linear model and compressed mixed linear model in the GAPIT package operated in an R environment (Tang et al., 2016). To avoid the possible influence of heading date, GWAS for cold tolerance evaluated under CS‐HAA conditions was conducted in multiple populations divided by five and seven days‐to‐heading (DTH) interval groups, including HAA‐7d‐group 1 (168 accessions, DTH from 97 to 103 days), HAA‐7d‐group 2 (167 accessions, DTH from 104 to 110 days), HAA‐7d‐group 3 (133 accessions, DTH from 112 to 118 days), HAA‐7d‐group 4 (110 accessions, DTH from 120 to 126 days), HAA‐5d‐group 5 (98 accessions, DTH from 93 to 97 days), HAA‐5d‐group 6 (130 accessions, DTH from 103 to 107 days), HAA‐5d‐group 7 (122 accessions, DTH from 110 to 114 days) and HAA‐5d‐group 8 (109 accessions, DTH from 118 to 122 days). The genome‐wide significance threshold was determined by permutation tests with 1000 replications (Zhao et al., 2018). A region containing more than 3 consecutive significant SNPs was considered a single associated signal, and the SNP with the minimum P‐value within the associated signal was considered to be the lead SNP. For the analysis of candidate genes of the associated signal, the continuous region closely linked to the lead SNP (r ² ≥ 0.6) was considered as the local LD interval (Yano et al., 2016). The significance threshold was determined using 0.05/N, where N represented the total number of SNPs.

Population genetic analysis

The genome‐wide LD decay of the association populations was determined using PopLDdecay version 3.4 (Zhang et al., 2019) with parameters as follows: ‐maxdist 5000 ‐maf 0.05 ‐miss 0.25. The LD decay distance was determined as the LD decays to half of the maximum value.

To clarify the differentiation and selection of cold adaptability at the reproductive stage, several population genetic parameters, including the population differentiation statistics (F _ST), nucleotide diversity (π) and Tajima’s D, were calculated using VCFtools software (Danecek et al., 2011). F _ST and nucleotide diversity were computed using 100‐kb windows and 10‐kb steps, and the Tajima’s D was calculated using 10‐kb windows. Sliding windows with the top 5% of F _ST values were identified as divergent windows. Adjacent divergent windows were merged into single divergent regions. Highly divergent regions overlapping with loci identified in this study or reported cold‐tolerance QTLs/genes at the reproductive stage were defined as the divergent regions related to cold tolerance (DRCT) at the reproductive stage. For the identification of DRCT inter‐subspecies, only the loci detected in the full population, but neither in Xian nor in Geng subpopulations, were identified to contribute to the cold adaptive differentiation inter‐subspecies.

To analyse the selection of divergent regions related to cold tolerance, regions with an average Tajima's D < −1 and Tajima's D > 1 in corresponding populations were further filtered (Qiu et al., 2017; Xia et al., 2019; Zhao et al., 2018).

Expression pattern analysis

Geng landrace Lijiangxiaoheigu from Yunnan province was transferred to a phytotron (16–17°C) at the reproductive stage, and young panicles were sampled at different time points after cold treatment. Total RNA was extracted using RNAiso Plus (Takara, Japan), and cDNA was generated using an M‐MLV reverse transcriptase (Takara, Japan). qRT‐PCR was performed on an ABI 7500 Real‐time PCR system (Applied Bio‐Systems). OsActin1 was used as the internal reference. Each experiment was performed with three biological samples and each sample assayed with three technical replications. Data for tissue expression analysis were collected from the Rice Genome Annotation Project website (http://rice.plantbiology.msu.edu/). Primers are listed in Table S14.

Evolutionary analysis

For evolutionary analysis, haplotypes of 494 cultivated rice and 75 wild rice accessions were divided using DnaSP 5.10 software (Librado and Rozas, 2009). A minimum spanning tree among haplotypes was calculated using Arlequin version 3.5 (Excoffier and Lischer, 2010) and drawn in Hapstar‐0.6 (Teacher and Griffiths, 2011).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author contributions

H.G., Jinjie Li and Z.L. designed the research. H.G., Y.Z., Jilong Li and X.M. performed most of experiments. Z.Z., Q.L., Jin Li, Y.G. and H.Z. performed part of the experiments. H.G. and Y.Z. analysed the data. Jinjie Li and Z.L. conceived and supervised the project. H.G., Jinjie Li and Z.L. wrote the manuscript.

Supporting information

Figure S1 Evaluation of cold tolerance at the reproductive stage under CS‐HAA and CS‐DW conditions.

Figure S2 Cold adaptive differentiation between Xian and Geng and relationship between cold tolerance and latitude.

Figure S3 Geographic distribution of the accessions in Panel 1

Figure S4 Population structure of the association panels.

Figure S5 Quantile‐quantile plots for the general linear model (GLM) and compressed mixed linear model (CMLM) in different association populations.

Figure S6 Genome‐wide threshold for GWAS based on the permutation tests.

Figure S7 LD decay of the association populations.

Figure S8 Loci associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage identified in subgroups of Panel 1.

Figure S9 Loci associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage identified in Panel 1 based on a seven‐day grouping interval.

Figure S10 Loci associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage identified in Panel 1 based on a five‐day grouping interval.

Figure S11 Distribution of 156 loci on rice chromosomes.

Figure S12 Tissue expression of important predicted genes in qCTB1t based on the data from the RGAP website.

Figure S13 Association analysis of CTB4a in HAA‐full population.

Figure S14 Characterization of 140 Geng and 169 Xian accessions from Panel 1.

Figure S15 Nucleotide diversity of DRCT and genomic average in different populations.

Figure S16 Characterization of 35 cold‐tolerant and 32 cold‐sensitive temperate Geng accessions from Panel 1.

Figure S17 Association and haplotype analyses for cloned genes conferring cold tolerance at the reproductive stage in 132 accessions from Panel 2.

Figure S18 Allelic distributions of CTB4a and Ctb1 in the world (left) and China (right).

Figure S19 Allelic distributions of bZIP73 and OsAPX1 in the world (left) and China (right).

Table S1 The 522 accessions in Panel 1 evaluated under natural cold stress in a high‐altitude area.

Table S2 The 155 accessions in Panel 2 evaluated under artificial cold stress in deep water.

Table S3 Statistics of the seed‐setting rates of accessions used in this study.

Table S4 Selected rice germplasms from level 1 with strong cold tolerance at the reproductive stage.

Table S5 LD decay of different association populations.

Table S6 Information of the loci associated with cold tolerance at the reproductive stage identified by GWAS in different association populations.

Table S7 Information of the loci overlapping with QTLs identified by linkage analysis.

Table S8 Genomic regions differentiated between Geng and Xian.

Table S9 Population genetic parameters of DRCT between Geng and Xian.

Table S10 Genomic regions differentiated within the Geng subspecies.

Table S11 Population genetic parameters of DRCT within the Geng subspecies.

Table S12 Accessions used in the analyses of evolution and breeding potential.

Table S13 Pyramiding of loci overlapping with reported cold‐tolerance QTLs at the reproductive stage in temperate Geng accessions from Panel 1 which contain CTB4a, Ctb1, bZIP73 and OsAPX1.

Table S14 Primers used in the expression pattern analysis.

Guo, H. , Zeng, Y. , Li, J. , Ma, X. , Zhang, Z. , Lou, Q. , Li, J. , Gu, Y. , Zhang, H. , Li, J. and Li, Z. (2020) Differentiation, evolution and utilization of natural alleles for cold adaptability at the reproductive stage in rice. Plant Biotechnol. J., 10.1111/pbi.13424