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Pollen staining is a rapid and cost-effective alternative to marker-assisted selection for recessive waxy1 gene governing high amylopectin in maize

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A Correction to this article was published on 07 December 2022

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Abstract

Waxy maize is popular for food-, feed- and industrial usage. It possesses a recessive waxy1 (wx1) gene that enhances amylopectin to ~ 95–100%, compared to ~ 70–75% in traditional maize. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) is a preferred approach to converting normal maize into a waxy version. However, it requires specialized expertise, a well-equipped laboratory, and high cost. Here, pollen staining was used as an alternative approach to MAS. BC1F1, BC1F2 and BC2F2 populations in seven genetic backgrounds segregating for the wx1 gene were used. Pollens treated with iodine-potassium iodide showed that wild types (Wx1Wx1) were dark purple, while waxy pollens (wx1wx1) exhibited red colour. Heterozygotes (Wx1wx1) showed a mix of both dark purple and red colour. Staining of endosperm flour also confirmed the same findings. Wx1-based genotyping using phi022 and wx2507F/RG confirmed the same genotypic status. The average amylopectin among genotypes having red coloured pollens was 97.6%, while it was 72.5% among dark purple. Heterozygotes with both dark purple and red pollens had 85.2% amylopectin. Pollen staining showed complete agreement with the genotyping as well as amylopectin contents. Pollen staining saved 81% cost, and 54% time compared to MAS. This is the first report on the utilization of pollen staining for selecting the wx1 allele in segregating populations used for the development of waxy maize hybrids.

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Acknowledgements

First author is grateful to USAID for awarding the BHEARD fellowship for his doctoral research at IARI, New Delhi. The funding from IARI, New Delhi in conducting the study is duly acknowledged. We thank Dr. B.M. Prasanna, CIMMYT, Mexico for providing the waxy source germplasm. The help CCSHAU, Uchani for sharing the parental inbreds is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India

    Vignesh Muthusamy, Rajkumar U. Zunjare, Rashmi Chhabra, Shashidhar B. Reddappa, Subhra J. Mishra, Nitish R. Prakash, Nisrita Gain, Gulab Chand & Firoz Hossain

  2. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur, Bangladesh

    Zahirul A. Talukder

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  1. Zahirul A. Talukder
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  2. Vignesh Muthusamy
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  10. Firoz Hossain
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Contributions

Conduct of the experiment: ZAT; Development of backcross populations: VM; Genotyping of the backcross populations: RC; Estimation of amylopectin: SBR and SJM; Raising of the populations and selfing of plants: GC and NRP; Sample preparation and recoding of data: NG; Statistical analysis: RUZ; Preparation of manuscript: ZAT and FH; Design of experiment: FH.

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Correspondence to Firoz Hossain.

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Talukder, Z.A., Muthusamy, V., Zunjare, R.U. et al. Pollen staining is a rapid and cost-effective alternative to marker-assisted selection for recessive waxy1 gene governing high amylopectin in maize. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 28, 1753–1764 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-022-01240-1

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