Contrasting rice sub-populations to tocols ratio associated with seed longevity

Understanding the mechanism(s) to overcome or prevent seed ageing deterioration during storage is of fundamental interest to seed physiologists. Vitamin E (tocols) is known as a key metabolite to efficiently scavenge lipid peroxy radicals which cause membrane breakdown resulting in seed ageing. However, in rice research this hypothesis has been tested for very few lines only without considering intraspecific variation in genomic structure. Here, we present a correlation study between tocols and seed longevity using a diverse rice panel. Seeds of 20 rice accessions held in the International Rice Genebank at the International Rice Research Institute, representing aus, indica, temperate japonica and tropical japonica subpopulations, were used for tocols analysis (quantification of ${\alpha}$-, ${\beta}$-, ${\gamma}$-, ${\delta}$-tocopherol/tocotrienol by ultra performance liquid chromatography) and storage experiments at $45^{\circ}C$ and 10.9% seed moisture content (sample taken for germination testing every 3 days up to 60 days). To examine interactions between DNA sequences and phenotype, the 700k high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism marker data-set was utilized. Both seed longevity (time for viability to fall to 50%; $p_{50}$) and tocols content varied across subpopulations due to heterogeneity in the genetic architecture. Among eight types of tocol homologues, ${\alpha}$-tocopherol and ${\gamma}$-tocotrienol were significantly correlated with $p_{50}$ (negatively and positively, respectively). While temperate japonica varieties were most abundant in ${\alpha}$-tocopherol, indica varieties recorded 1.3 to 1.7-fold higher ${\gamma}$-tocotrienol than those of other subpopulations. It was highlighted that specific ratio of tocol homologues rather than total tocols content plays an important role in the seed longevity mechanism.