ASHS 2025 Conference

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) produces two types of seeds: spiny and spineless. Seed spine is one of the most important agronomic traits that affect seed treatment, mechanized harvesting and planting, and sowing. This study aimed to identify single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with seed spines in spinach through a genome-wide association study (GWAS), with the goal of developing SNP markers for marker-assisted selection (MAS). GWAS was conducted for the seed spine trait in a panel of 307 diverse spinach accessions using 147,977 SNPs generated from whole genome resequencing. Using MLM, FarmCPU, and BLINK models in GAPIT 3 and TASSEL 5, two significant SNPs associated with seed spines: SOVchr3_141167900, and SOVchr3_141168649 were identified on the chromosome 3. (LOD) values of t-test analysis identified homozygous alleles associated with the spiny and spineless traits in each of the two SNP markers, with LOD values greater than 80.00, and 80.00, respectively. The gene SOV3g042220, located between 141,172,904 bp and 141,183,504 bp on chromosome 3, is proposed as a potential candidate gene associated with the seed spine trait. This research provides valuable insights for MAS in spinach breeding, facilitating the development of spinach lines with desirable seed characteristics.