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Background: Mechanized dry seeded rice can save both labour and water resources. Rice seedling establishment is sensitive to sowing depth while mesocotyl elongation facilitates the emergence of deeply sown seeds. Results: A set of 270 rice accessions, including 170 from the mini-core collection of Chinese rice germplasm (C Collection) and 100 varieties used in a breeding program for drought resistance (D Collection), was screened for mesocotyl lengths of seedlings grown in water (MLw) in darkness and in 5 cm sand culture (MLs). Twenty six accessions (10.53 %) have MLw longer than 1.0 cm. Eleven accessions had the highest mesocotyl lengths, i.e. 1.4 - 5.05 cm of MLw and 3.0 - 6.4 cm in 10 cm sand culture, including 7 upland landraces or varieties. The genotypic data of 1,019,883 SNPs were developed by re-sequencing of those accessions. A wholegenome SNP array (Rice SNP50) was used to genotype 24 accessions as a validation panel, giving 98.41 % of consistent SNPs with the re-sequencing data in average. GWAS based on compressed mixed linear model was conducted using GAPIT. Based on a threshold of - log(P) ≥8.0, 13 loci were associated to MLw on rice chromosome 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9, respectively. Three associated loci, on chromosome 3, 6, and 10, were detected for MLs. A set of 99 associated SNPs for MLw, based on a compromised threshold (-log(P) ≥7.0), located in intergenic regions or different positions of 36 annotated genes, including one cullin and one growth regulating factor gene. Conclusions: Higher proportion and extension of elongated mesocotyls were observed in the mini-core collection of rice germplasm and upland rice landraces or varieties, possibly causing the correlation between mesocotyl elongation and drought resistance. GWAS found 13 loci for mesocotyl length measured in dark germination that confirmed the previously reported co-location of two QTLs across populations and experiments. Associated SNPs hit 36 annotated genes including function-matching candidates like cullin and GRF. The germplasm with elongated mesocotyl, especially upland landraces or varieties, and the associated SNPs could be useful in further studies and breeding of mechanized dry seeded rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep rooting is a very important trait for plants' drought avoidance, and it is usually represented by the ratio of deep rooting (RDR). Three sets of rice populations were used to determine the genetic base for RDR. A linkage mapping population with 180 recombinant inbred lines and an association mapping population containing 237 rice varieties were used to identify genes linked to RDR. Six quantitative trait loci (QTLs) of RDR were identified as being located on chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 7, and 10. Using 1 019 883 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), a genome-wide association study of the RDR was performed. Forty-eight significant SNPs of the RDR were identified and formed a clear peak on the short arm of chromosome 1 in a Manhattan plot. Compared with the shallow-rooting group and the whole collection, the deep-rooting group had selective sweep regions on chromosomes 1 and 2, especially in the major QTL region on chromosome 2. Seven of the nine candidate SNPs identified by association mapping were verified in two RDR extreme groups. The findings from this study will be beneficial to rice drought-resistance research and breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]