Seed quality and seedling establishment are the most important factors affecting successful crop development. They depend on the genetic background and are acquired during seed maturation and therefor, affected by the maternal environment under which the seeds develop. There is little knowledge about the genetic and environmental factors that affect seed quality and seedling establishment. The aim of this study is to identify the loci and possible molecular mechanisms involved in acquisition of seed quality and how these are controlled by adverse maternal conditions. For this, we used a tomato recombinant inbred line (RIL) population consisting of 100 lines which were grown under two different nutritional environmental conditions, high phosphate and low nitrate. Most of the seed germination traits such as maximum germination percentage (G_max), germination rate (t₅₀) and uniformity (U₈₄₁₆) showed ample variation between genotypes and under different germination conditions. This phenotypic variation leads to identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) which were dependent on genetic factors, but also on the interaction with the maternal environment (QTL × E). Further studies of these QTLs may ultimately help to predict the effect of different maternal environmental conditions on seed quality and seedling establishment which will be very useful to improve the production of high‐performance seeds.

中文翻译：

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番茄种子和幼苗中基因型×环境相互作用的QTL检测。

种子质量和幼苗生长是影响作物成功发育的最重要因素。它们取决于遗传背景，并在种子成熟及其过程中获得，并受到种子在其下发育的母体环境的影响。关于影响种子质量和幼苗生长的遗传和环境因素知之甚少。这项研究的目的是确定与获取种子质量有关的基因座和可能的分子机制，以及如何通过不利的母体条件来控制它们。为此，我们使用了由100个品系组成的番茄重组自交系（RIL）群体，它们在两种不同的营养环境条件下生长，即高磷酸盐和低硝酸盐。大多数种子发芽特性，例如最大发芽率（G_max），发芽率（t ₅₀）和均匀度（U ₈₄₁₆）在不同发芽条件下基因型之间存在很大差异。这种表型变异导致了数量性状基因座（QTL）的鉴定，该基因位点不仅取决于遗传因素，还取决于与母体环境的相互作用（QTL×E）。对这些QTL的进一步研究最终可能有助于预测不同母体环境条件对种子质量和幼苗生长的影响，这对提高高性能种子的产量非常有用。