An extreme-phenotype genome‐wide association study identifies candidate cannabinoid pathway genes in Cannabis

Abstract Cannabis produces a class of isoprenylated resorcinyl polyketides known as cannabinoids, a subset of which are medically important and exclusive to this plant. The cannabinoid alkyl group is a critical structural feature that governs therapeutic activity. Genetic enhancement of the alkyl si...

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Autores principales: Matthew T. Welling, Lei Liu, Tobias Kretzschmar, Ramil Mauleon, Omid Ansari, Graham J. King
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2020
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/0a5f1ade75bb4179b9bad59d7e7e3596
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Sumario:Abstract Cannabis produces a class of isoprenylated resorcinyl polyketides known as cannabinoids, a subset of which are medically important and exclusive to this plant. The cannabinoid alkyl group is a critical structural feature that governs therapeutic activity. Genetic enhancement of the alkyl side-chain could lead to the development of novel chemical phenotypes (chemotypes) for pharmaceutical end-use. However, the genetic determinants underlying in planta variation of cannabinoid alkyl side-chain length remain uncharacterised. Using a diversity panel derived from the Ecofibre Cannabis germplasm collection, an extreme-phenotype genome-wide association study (XP-GWAS) was used to enrich for alkyl cannabinoid polymorphic regions. Resequencing of chemotypically extreme pools revealed a known cannabinoid synthesis pathway locus as well as a series of chemotype-associated genomic regions. One of these regions contained a candidate gene encoding a β-keto acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase (BKR) putatively associated with polyketide fatty acid starter unit synthesis and alkyl side-chain length. Association analysis revealed twenty-two polymorphic variants spanning the length of this gene, including two nonsynonymous substitutions. The success of this first reported application of XP-GWAS for an obligate outcrossing and highly heterozygote plant genus suggests that this approach may have generic application for other plant species.