SLAF-based high-density genetic map construction and QTL mapping for major economic traits in sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius

Sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus intermedius) has long been a model species for developmental and evolutionary research, but only a few studies have focused on gene mapping. Here, we reported a high-density genetic map containing 4,387 polymorphism specific-length amplified fragment (SLAF) markers spanning 21 linkage groups (LG) for sea urchin. Based on this genetic map and phenotyping data for eight economic traits, 33 potentially significant QTLs were detected on ten different LGs with explanations ranging from 9.90% to 46.30%, partly including 10 QTLs for test diameter, six QTLs for body weight and eight QTLs for Aristotle’s lantern weight. Moreover, we found a QTL enrichment LG, LG15, gathering QTLs for test diameter, body weight, gonad weight, light orange-yellow color difference (≥E(1)) and light yellow color difference (≥E(2)). Among all QTLs, we genotyped four QTLs for test diameter, Aristotle’s lantern weight and body weight using High Resolution Melting (HRM) technology. Finally, we used the verified SNP marker (detected using SLAF sequencing) to explore their marker-assisted selection (MAS) breeding application potential and found that SNP-29 associated tightly with body weight and that heterozygous genotype was a dominant genotype, indicating that SNP-29 was a promising marker for MAS.