Identification and characterization of QTL underlying whole‐plant physiology in Arabidopsis thaliana: δ13C, stomatal conductance and transpiration efficiency

Water limitation is one of the most important factors lim- iting crop productivity world-wide and has likely been an important selective regime influencing the evolution of plant physiology. Understanding the genetic and physiolog- ical basis of drought adaptation is therefore important for improving crops as well as for understanding the evolution of wild species. Here, results are presented from quantita- tive trait loci (QTL) mapping of flowering time (a drought escape mechanism) and carbon stable isotope ratio (d 13 C) (a drought-avoidance mechanism) in Arabidopsis thaliana. Whole-genome scans were performed using multiple-QTL models for both additive and epistatic QTL effects. We mapped five QTL affecting flowering time and five QTL affecting d 13 C, but two genomic regions contained QTL with effects on both traits, suggesting a potential pleiotropic relationship. In addition, we observed QTL-QTL interac- tion for both traits. Two d d d 13 C QTL were captured in near-

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