Isolation and functional analysis of the zmARM4 locus in a novel maize (Zea mays) grain-filling mutant |
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| Authors: | Mengsi Kong Qiao Qiao Xiaolin Ma Yongsheng Tao Pushpa Maharjan Raj Wenchao Zhen |
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| Affiliation: | North China Key Laboratory for Crop Germplasm Resources of Education Ministry, Key Laboratory of Crop Growth Regulation of Hebei Province, College of Agronomy, Hebei Sub-center of Chinese National Maize Improvement Center, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China |
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| Abstract: | Maize grain filling (GF) and grain weight (GW) are closely associated with grain yield. In our study, the ZmARM4 locus affecting GF and GW was identified using a reverse genetics screen of UniformMutator (Mu). First, MutatorDR-flanking sequence (MuDRFs) was isolated from the mutant by the MuDR-amplified fragment length polymorphism method, and it was verified by cosegregation (between MuDRFs and phenotype) and linkage analyses. Second, the target gene of the MuDRFs was found to encode the Armadillo domain of the repeat protein gene families and has high expression in the GF stage. Third, association mapping between SNPs in the ZmARM4 region and the GW of 489 maize lines indicated that ZmARM4 is a functional gene that is closely related to GW. Moreover, bioinformatics analysis suggested that ZmARM4 may be relevant for the activity of sucrose transport or the number of cell divisions in endosperm cells. Therefore, ZmARM4 may be used as an important locus for maize GW in molecular breeding. |
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| Keywords: | arm repeat protein association analysis grain filling grain weight maize MuDR-flanking sequence |
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