MutMap is a method for mapping mutant phenotypes based on the generation of phenotypically mutant individuals after mutagenesis with the chemical mutagen EMS. Compared with traditional QTL mapping, the individuals obtained by using EMS mutation are less genetically different from the parents, the loci associated with the traits are usually single, and the traits are usually Mendelian segregated in the progeny. This makes MutMap a precise and rapid mapping method in plant trait research.

CD Genomics provides a high-quality MutMap services. For mutant species with reference genomes, the individuals with mutant traits in the segregated population are sequenced by a mixed pool, and the wild-type parents are sequenced to complete the detection of functional mutation sites.

Technical features of MutMap

MutMap is particularly suitable for crop species because it minimizes the number of genetic crosses (n = 1 or 0) and mutant F2 progeny required, and in addition, its elimination of the need to construct complex population maps, genetic crosses and linkage information greatly accelerates the identification of genetic elements associated with the targeted phenotypic variation. It has the following technical features.

• More effective and affordable than traditional methods.
• More time and effort saving.
• High resolution with high accuracy.
• High throughput approach.

MutMap can be applied in the following studies

• Accelerating crop breeding and genetic improvement.
• Identifying unique genomic locations for mutations in important crop traits.
• Identify variants occurring in genomic gap regions.
• Identify candidate genes.

MutMap application conditions

• Point mutations caused by chemical mutagenesis or physical mutagenesis.
• Wild-type parental resequencing and mutant offspring hybrid pool sequencing.
• Reference genome available.
• Any family group in which segregation of traits has occurred.

MutMap process

• The wild type was mutagenized by EMS to obtain the mutant phenotype, and the mutant strain was selfed for multiple generations until pure and then crossed with the wild type to obtain F1, and F1 was selfed to obtain F2 with segregation of traits.
• A number of individuals in the F2 that did not match the wild-type phenotype were selected and sequenced in a mixed pool, while the wild-type sequencing was used as the reference gene sequence.
• The SNP sites with SNP-Indexes that differed from the reference sequence by a significantly higher percentage of total reads than expected were used as candidate sites to cause the mutation.

Fig.2. Simplified scheme for application of MutMap. (Abe A, et al., 2012)

Our advantages and features

• We have rich experience in MutMap services and have successfully completed the localization of nearly thousands of traits in hundreds of different species.
• We can choose the best analysis solution according to project needs and guarantee accurate results.
• We help clients can choose different analysis strategies depending on the genome size, complexity and research objectives of the species.

CD Genomics provides high quality MutMap services, which requires less time and manpower to achieve rapid gene localization using hybrid pool resequencing, greatly improving the efficiency of genetic mapping. We also provide our clients with a standardized analysis process, which makes the analysis process simple and ensures the accuracy of the results. If you are interested in our services, please feel free to contact us.

Reference

1. Abe A, et al. (2012). "Genome sequencing reveals agronomically important loci in rice using MutMap." Nat Biotechnol. 30(2):174-8.