Research:2026-05-08/Journal article/genetic-architecture-of-phenological-morphological-and-phytochemical-traits-in-cannabis-landraces

8 May 2026 Journal article

Iran

Genetic architecture of phenological, morphological, and phytochemical traits in Cannabis landraces

Mehdi Babaei, Davoud Torkamaneh

The Plant Genome· 2026

Genome-wide association study of 145 Iranian Cannabis sativa landrace accessions, male and female, genotyped at roughly 233,000 common SNPs. The analysis resolves the collection into three genetically distinct subpopulations shaped by geography, climate and traditional cultivation, and identifies 91 genomic regions associated with 40 phenological, morphological and phytochemical traits, including 15 pleiotropic loci linked to flowering time, plant architecture, biomass accumulation and cannabinoid biosynthesis. The authors report high heritability for most traits and rapid linkage disequilibrium decay, and present the panel as a resource for high-resolution mapping and marker-assisted selection towards cultivars with tailored cannabinoid profiles. A population-scale genetic-architecture reference for the Iran gene pool, complementing the earlier Mostafaei Dehnavi et al. 2025 population-genomics study of Iranian Cannabis.

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2026-05-08 2026-07-01 Genetic architecture of phenological, morphological, and phytochemical traits in Cannabis landraces Journal article Mehdi Babaei, Davoud Torkamaneh The Plant Genome 2026 10.1002/tpg2.70243 https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tpg2.70243 https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/tpg2.70243 Genome-wide association study of 145 Iranian Cannabis sativa landrace accessions, male and female, genotyped at roughly 233,000 common SNPs. The analysis resolves the collection into three genetically distinct subpopulations shaped by geography, climate and traditional cultivation, and identifies 91 genomic regions associated with 40 phenological, morphological and phytochemical traits, including 15 pleiotropic loci linked to flowering time, plant architecture, biomass accumulation and cannabinoid biosynthesis. The authors report high heritability for most traits and rapid linkage disequilibrium decay, and present the panel as a resource for high-resolution mapping and marker-assisted selection towards cultivars with tailored cannabinoid profiles. A population-scale genetic-architecture reference for the Iran gene pool, complementing the earlier Mostafaei Dehnavi et al. 2025 population-genomics study of Iranian Cannabis. Iran