Agradecimentos: We would like to acknowledge the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), and the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa). This work was supported by grants from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES—Computational Biology Programme and Financial Code 001), Embrapa (02.14.01.014.00.00) and the Associação para o Fomento à Pesquisa de Melhoramento de Forrageiras (UNIPASTO). MM was separately funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA)-awarded AFRI grant (project number: 2022-67013-36269). AA received a Ph.D. fellowship from FAPESP (2019/03232-6); RF received a PD fellowship from FAPESP (2018/19219-6); AS received research fellowships from CNPq (312777/2018–3) Ver menos

Abstract: Tropical forage grasses are an important food source for animal feeding, with Urochloa humidicola, also known as Koronivia grass, being one of the main pasture grasses for poorly drained soils in the tropics. However, genetic and genomic resources for this species are lacking due to its genomic complexity, including high heterozygosity, evidence of segmental allopolyploidy, and reproduction by apomixis. These complexities hinder the application of marker-assisted selection (MAS) in breeding programs. Here, we developed the highest-density linkage map currently available for the hexaploid tropical forage grass U. humidicola. This map was constructed using a biparental F1 population generated from a cross between the female parent H031 (CIAT 26146), the only known sexual genotype for the species, and the apomictic male parent H016 (BRS cv. Tupi). The linkage analysis included 4,873 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers with allele dosage information. It allowed mapping of the apospory locus and phenotype to linkage group 3, in a region syntenic with chromosome 3 of Urochloa ruziziensis and chromosome 1 of Setaria italica. We also identified hexaploid haplotypes for all individuals, assessed the meiotic configuration, and estimated the level of preferential pairing in parents during the meiotic process, which revealed the autopolyploid origin of sexual H031 in contrast to H016, which presented allopolyploid behavior in preferential pairing analysis. These results provide new information regarding the genetic organization, mode of reproduction, and allopolyploid origin of U. humidicola, potential SNPs markers associated to apomixes for MAS and resources for research on polyploids and tropical forage grasses Ver menos