In rice (Oryza sativa L.), there is a diversity in flowering time that is strictly genetically regulated. The floral transition from vegetative to reproductive development is a very important step in the life cycle of a flowering plant. Although the genetic pathway for short-day flowering in rice is relatively well understood, the naturally occurring molecular mechanisms underlying flowering time diversity of the cultivated rice are still not clear. Resequencing of 295 rice accessions including 137 HS and 158 KB rice accessions, was recently finished with an average of approximately 10x depth and > 90% coverage. A wide range of variation in flowering time was observed within a diversity research set of 295 accessions ranging from 28 to 72 days. GWAS was performed using the resequencing data to investigate the candidate genes associated with flowering time in rice. Our GWAS result suggests that two SNPs in the promoter or 3’ UTR of the ‘Arabidopsis CO’ homolog FBH1 are potentially associated with early flowering. The new SNPs found in the FBH1 locus would be useful in developing markers to screen the varieties with early flowering time in the future molecular breeding.

• Min-Young Yoon(Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University)
• Aye Aye Khaing(Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University)
• Win Htet Oo(Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University)
• Tae-Sung Kim(Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University)
• Yong-Jin Park(Department of Plant Resources, College of Industrial Sciences, Kongju National University, Legume Bio-Resource Center of Green Manure (LBRCGM), Kongju National University) Corresponding Author