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Genetic and molecular control of grain yield in maize

Molecular Breeding volume 41, Article number: 18 (2021) Cite this article

Abstract

Understanding the genetic and molecular basis of grain yield is important for maize improvement. Here, we identified 49 consensus quantitative trait loci (cQTL) controlling maize yield-related traits using QTL meta-analysis. Then, we collected yield-related traits associated SNPs detected by association mapping and identified 17 consensus significant loci. Comparing the physical positions of cQTL with those of significant SNPs revealed that 47 significant SNPs were located within 20 cQTL regions. Furthermore, intensive reviews of 31 genes regulating maize yield-related traits found that the functions of many genes were conservative in maize and other plant species. The functional conservation indicated that some of the 575 maize genes (orthologous to 247 genes controlling yield or seed traits in other plant species) might be functionally related to maize yield-related traits, especially the 49 maize orthologous genes in cQTL regions, and 41 orthologous genes close to the physical positions of significant SNPs. In the end, we prospected on the integration of the public sources for exploring the genetic and molecular mechanisms of maize yield-related traits, and on the utilization of genetic and molecular mechanisms for maize improvement.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0101803) and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) Innovation Project.

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  1. Hongwei Zhang and Yantian Lu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, The People’s Republic of China

    Hongwei Zhang, Yantian Lu, Yuting Ma, Junjie Fu & Guoying Wang

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  1. Hongwei Zhang
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  2. Yantian Lu
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  3. Yuting Ma
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  4. Junjie Fu
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  5. Guoying Wang
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Contributions

Guoying Wang and Hongwei Zhang discussed and created the review’s outline; Hongwei Zhang, Yantian Lu, and Yuting Ma collected and analyzed the data; Hongwei Zhang and Guoying Wang wrote the manuscript; Guoying Wang, Junjie Fu, Hongwei Zhang, Yantian Lu, and Yuting Ma edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guoying Wang.

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This article is part of the Topical collection on Maize Genetics, Genomics and Sustainable Improvement

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Zhang, H., Lu, Y., Ma, Y. et al. Genetic and molecular control of grain yield in maize. Mol Breeding 41, 18 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-021-01214-3

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Keywords

  • Maize
  • Yield
  • Genetic mechanism
  • Molecular mechanism