Mapping and validation of the quantitative trait loci for leaf stay‐green‐associated parameters in maize |
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| Authors: | Zhen Yang Xin Li Ning Zhang Xiaolei Wang Yuna Zhang Yulong Ding Benke Kuai Xueqing Huang |
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| Affiliation: | 1. The Southern Modern Forestry Collaborative Innovation Center, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China;2. College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China;3. State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China;4. Bamboo Research Institute, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China |
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| Abstract: | Functional stay‐green is generally regarded as a desirable trait of varieties in major crops including maize. In this study, we used an F3:4 recombinant inbred line population with 165 lines from a cross between a stay‐green inbred line (Zheng58) and a model inbred line (B73) using 211 polymorphic simple sequence repeat markers to map quantitative trait loci for three stay‐green‐associated parameters, chlorophyll content, photosystem II photochemical efficiency and stay‐green area, at maturity stage, detected a total of 23 quantitative trait loci (QTL) on nine chromosomes. Single QTL explained 3.7–13.5% of the phenotypic variance. Additionally, we validated some important stay‐green QTL using a heterogeneous inbred family approach and found that the stay‐green‐associated parameters were significantly correlated with the plant yield. This study may contribute to a better insight into the regulatory mechanism behind leaf stay‐green in maize and a novel development of elite maize varieties with delayed leaf senescence through molecular marker‐assisted selection. |
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| Keywords: | stay‐green quantitative trait loci mapping maize ear leaves yield |
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