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Mapping QTL controlling maize deep-seeding tolerance-related traits and confirmation of a major QTL for mesocotyl length

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Abstract

Deep-seeding tolerant seeds can emerge from deep soil where the moisture is suitable for seed germination. Breeding deep-seeding tolerant cultivars is becoming increasingly important in arid and semi-arid regions. To dissect the quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling deep-seeding tolerance traits, we selected a tolerant maize inbred line 3681-4 and crossed it with the elite inbred line-X178 to generate an F2 population and the derivative F2:3 families. A molecular linkage map composed of 179 molecular markers was constructed, and 25 QTL were detected including 10 QTL for sowing at 10 cm depth and 15 QTL for sowing at 20 cm depth. The QTL analysis results confirmed that deep-seeding tolerance was mainly caused by mesocotyl elongation and also revealed considerable overlap among QTL for different traits. To confirm a major QTL on chromosome 10 for mesocotyl length measured at 20 cm depth, we selected and self-pollinated a BC3F2 plant that was heterozygous at the markers around the target QTL and homozygous at other QTL to generate a BC3F3 population. We found that this QTL explained more phenotypic variance in the BC3F3 population than that in the F2 population, which laid the foundation for fine mapping and NIL (near-isogenic line) construction.

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Acknowledgments

We greatly appreciate the effort of Prof. Mingliang Xu and Dr. Qing Li from China Agricultural University for their check of this manuscript. We also thank Dr. Lin Li from University of Minnesota for his help in phenotypic data analysis. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30971792).

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Author notes

  1. Guangwu Zhao

    Present address: School of Agriculture and Food Science, ZheJiang A&F University, HangZhou, 311300, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology and National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Hongwei Zhang, Pan Ma, Zhengnan Zhao, Guangwu Zhao, Baohua Tian & Jianhua Wang

  2. Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Guoying Wang

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  1. Hongwei Zhang
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Correspondence to Guoying Wang.

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Communicated by T. Luebberstedt.

H. Zhang and P. Ma have contributed equally to this work.

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122_2011_1700_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 1: The response of mesocotyl length, coleoptile length and seedling length to different sowing depth. * means significantly different from its left value at the 0.05 level. Black means maize inbred line 3681-4, red means X178. a, Response of mesocotyl to sowing depth. b, Response of coleoptile to sowing depth. c, Response of seedling length to sowing depth. (TIFF 1247 kb)

122_2011_1700_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 2: The genotypic graph of the starting BC3F2 plant which was selfed to produce the BC3F3 population. The number at the bottom of each linkage map correspond to the chromosome name of the maizegdb maps (TIFF 974 kb)

122_2011_1700_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 3: Confirmation qMES20-10 in another BC3F3 population. a, Distribution of mesocotyl length at 20 cm depth based on the genotype of SSR marker bnlg1028, B means homozygous 3681-4, H means heterozygous, A means homozygous X178; b, Confirmation of qMES20-10 based on QTL Cartographer Version 2.5, the SSR markers used were umc1280, umc1506, bnlg1028, bnlg153, bnlg2190, the LOD value and PVE (phenotypic variance explained) were 14.22 and 29.03%, respectively. (TIFF 119 kb)

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Zhang, H., Ma, P., Zhao, Z. et al. Mapping QTL controlling maize deep-seeding tolerance-related traits and confirmation of a major QTL for mesocotyl length. Theor Appl Genet 124, 223–232 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-011-1700-y

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