ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Breeding
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1599530
QTL-Based Dissection of Three Key Quality Attributes in Maize Using Doubled Haploid Populations
Provisionally accepted
- 1Crop Stress Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing, China
- 2Quality and Safety Institute of Agricultural Products, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China
- 3Food Processing Institute, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China
- 4Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China
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Maize is a crucial source of nutrition, and the quality traits such as starch content, oil content, and lysine content are essential for meeting the demands of modern agricultural development. Understanding the genetic basis of these quality traits significantly contributes to improving maize yield and optimizing end-use quality. While previous studies have explored the genetic basis of these traits, further investigation into the quantitative trait loci (QTL) responsible for variations in starch content, oil content, and lysine content still requires additional attention. Three double haploid (DH) populations were established using a nested association mapping (NAM) design, with a single common inbred line crossed to three founder lines. The broad-sense heritability indicated the majority of starch content, oil content and lysine content variations were largely controlled by genetic factors. The genetic maps were constructed and a total of 47 QTLs were identified. The phenotypic variation explained (PVE) of the three traits is in a range of 2.60-17.24% which suggested that the genetic component of starch content, oil content and lysine content was controlled by many small effect QTLs. Five genes encoding key enzymes in regulation of starch, oil and lysine synthesis and metabolism located within QTLs were proposed as candidate genes in this study. The information presented herein will establish a foundation for the investigation of candidate genes that regulate quality traits in maize kernels. These QTLs will prove beneficial for marker-assisted selection and gene pyramiding in breeding programs aimed at developing high-quality maize varieties.
Keywords: Maize, Starch, oil, Lysine, QTLs, genetic analysis
Received: 25 Mar 2025; Accepted: 23 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 He, Wang, Li, Li, Chen and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jianwei Li, Crop Stress Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing, China
Lei Chen, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China
Xiaolei Zhang, Quality and Safety Institute of Agricultural Products, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China
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