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Quantitative trait locus mapping of resistance to Aspergillus flavus infection using a recombinant inbred line population in maize

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Abstract

Aflatoxin contamination of maize (Zea mays L.) grain caused by Aspergillus flavus is a serious health hazard to animals and humans. Development of maize varieties resistant to A. flavus infection and/or aflatoxin production can reduce this contamination. This study was conducted to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with resistance to A. flavus infection. A recombinant inbred line population was developed derived from RA, a maize inbred line resistant to A. flavus infection, and M53, a susceptible inbred line. After inoculation with A. flavus under controlled conditions, the kernels from each plant line grown in three different environments were evaluated for infection level. Categorical inoculation data were collected for each plant line based on the percentage of the kernel surface covered by fungal conidia. Significant genotypic variation in infection level was observed in all environments. Based on a genetic map containing 916 polymorphic simple sequence repeat and single nucleotide polymorphism markers, the resistance QTL were initially analyzed by composite interval mapping (CIM) separately for each environment. One QTL in bin 5.03 was detected in all environments, and seven other QTL were identified in one environment. Next, a mixed model based on CIM (MCIM) was employed for QTL analysis using data from the three environments simultaneously. Significant epistasis and epistasis × environment interaction to A. flavus infection were revealed. The QTL in bin 5.03 was repeatedly detected by the MCIM. This QTL explained the largest phenotypic variation among all of the detected QTL and could be considered as a major QTL for use in breeding for A. flavus resistance.

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Abbreviations

RIL:

Recombinant inbred line

QTL:

Quantitative trait loci

SNP:

Single nucleotide polymorphism

SSR:

Simple sequence repeat

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grants from by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2009CB118402), the key Natural Science Project in University of Jiangsu Province (11KJA210004), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, the Agricultural Part of Technology Supported Program of Jiangsu Province (BE2011303), the Innovative Research Team of Universities in Jiangsu Province, and the Innovation of Science and Technology Development Fund of Yangzhou University (2012CXJ056). We thank two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments and discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology, Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, People’s Republic of China

    Zhitong Yin, Yanqiu Wang, Feifei Wu, Xiao Gu, Yunlong Bian, Yijun Wang & Dexiang Deng

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  1. Zhitong Yin
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  2. Yanqiu Wang
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  3. Feifei Wu
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  4. Xiao Gu
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  5. Yunlong Bian
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  6. Yijun Wang
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  7. Dexiang Deng
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Correspondence to Zhitong Yin or Dexiang Deng.

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Yin, Z., Wang, Y., Wu, F. et al. Quantitative trait locus mapping of resistance to Aspergillus flavus infection using a recombinant inbred line population in maize. Mol Breeding 33, 39–49 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-013-9932-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-013-9932-y

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