Abstract
Plant height (PH) and ear height (EH) are important agronomic traits in maize (Zea mays L.) breeding. To investigate the influence of the genetic background on the detection of quantitative trait locus (QTL) conferring PH and EH, related mapping populations were developed from a near isogenic line (NIL) and its recurrent parent. Through joint-environment analyses, a total of four QTLs for PH were identified within the introgressed regions of the used NIL. Compared with the mapping results of RILs, extra PH QTLs could be detected within the target region of the used NIL on chromosome 4, but a previous PH QTL within this region was lost. The missed detection of a previous PH QTL also occurred on chromosome 6. As such, the genetic background of the recurrent parent exerted its influence on the detection of height QTL in this study. Meanwhile, according to the analyses of recombination events, qPEH6, a major height QTL on chromosome 6, was narrowed down to a region of approximately 1 Mb. Sequence analysis revealed that GRMZM2G014119, which encodes an ubiquitin-like protein related to the auxin response, was roughly assumed to be the candidate gene responsible for qPEH6.
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Acknowledgements
This work was partly supported by grants provided by the Programs of MOST and MOA of China (2016YFD0100103, 2016YFD0100303, 201303007, 2013BAD01B02-3, 2014DFG31690), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31401395, 31671705, 91335206) and CAAS (Innovation Program). We are grateful to CIMMYT for providing seeds of the NIL used in the study.
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Supplementary Fig. S1
Correlations between plant height and ear height across four different environments (**, significance at the alpha level of 0.01). Supplementary material 2 (TIFF 752 kb)
Supplementary Fig. S2
QTL mapping of plant and ear height within the introgressed regions in the F2:3 population developed from the cross of NIL-1133B and its recurrent parent B73. Supplementary material 3 (TIFF 285 kb)
Supplementary Fig. S3
QTL mapping of plant and ear height within the introgressed regions of chromosome 4 and 6 in the F3:4 population across three environments. Supplementary material 4 (TIFF 398 kb)
Supplementary Fig. S4
Multiple comparison analyses of plant and ear height among different alleles on the height major QTL on chromosome 6 (qPEH6) in the F3:4 population across three environments. The multiple comparison analysis was processed at an alpha level of 0.05
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Ding, X., Wu, X., Chen, L. et al. Both major and minor QTL associated with plant height can be identified using near-isogenic lines in maize. Euphytica 213, 21 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-016-1825-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-016-1825-9