QTL analysis across multiple environments reveals promising chromosome regions associated with yield-related traits in maize under drought conditions
Xinmin Hu,
Guihua Wang,
Xuemei Du,
Hongwei Zhang,
Zhenxiang Xu,
Jie Wang,
Guo Chen,
Bo Wang,
Xuhui Li,
Xunji Chen,
Junjie Fu,
Jun Zheng,
Jianhua Wang,
Riliang Gu,
Guoying Wang
Affiliations
Xinmin Hu
Beijing Innovation Center for Crop Seed Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis Utilization, Ministry of Education, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Guihua Wang
Beijing Innovation Center for Crop Seed Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis Utilization, Ministry of Education, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Xuemei Du
Beijing Innovation Center for Crop Seed Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis Utilization, Ministry of Education, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Hongwei Zhang
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Zhenxiang Xu
Beijing Innovation Center for Crop Seed Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis Utilization, Ministry of Education, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Jie Wang
Beijing Innovation Center for Crop Seed Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis Utilization, Ministry of Education, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Guo Chen
Institute of Nuclear Technology and Biotechnology, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, Xinjiang, China
Bo Wang
Beijing Innovation Center for Crop Seed Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis Utilization, Ministry of Education, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Xuhui Li
Beijing Innovation Center for Crop Seed Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis Utilization, Ministry of Education, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Xunji Chen
Institute of Nuclear Technology and Biotechnology, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, Xinjiang, China
Junjie Fu
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Jun Zheng
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Jianhua Wang
Beijing Innovation Center for Crop Seed Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis Utilization, Ministry of Education, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; Corresponding authors.
Riliang Gu
Beijing Innovation Center for Crop Seed Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis Utilization, Ministry of Education, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; Corresponding authors.
Guoying Wang
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; Corresponding authors.
Drought is one of the most critical abiotic stresses influencing maize yield. Improving maize cultivars with drought tolerance using marker-assisted selection requires a better understanding of its genetic basis. In this study, a doubled haploid (DH) population consisting of 217 lines was created by crossing the inbred lines Han 21 (drought-tolerant) and Ye 478 (drought-sensitive). The population was genotyped with a 6 K SNP assay and 756 SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) markers were used to construct a linkage map with a length of 1344 cM. Grain yield (GY), ear setting percentage (ESP), and anthesis–silking interval (ASI) were recorded in seven environments under well-watered (WW) and water-stressed (WS) regimes. High phenotypic variation was observed for all traits under both water regimes. Using the LSMEAN (least-squares mean) values from all environments for each trait, 18 QTL were detected, with 9 associated with the WW and 9 with the WS regime. Four chromosome regions, Chr. 3: 219.8–223.7 Mb, Chr. 5: 191.5–194.7 Mb, Chr. 7: 132.2–135.6 Mb, and Chr. 10: 88.2–89.4 Mb, harbored at least 2 QTL in each region, and QTL co-located in a region inherited favorable alleles from the same parent. A set of 64 drought-tolerant BC3F6 lines showed preferential accumulation of the favorable alleles in these four regions, supporting an association between the four regions and maize drought tolerance. QTL-by-environment interaction analysis revealed 28 edQTL (environment-dependent QTL) associated with the WS regime and 22 associated with the WW regime for GY, ESP, and ASI. All WS QTL and 55.6% of WW QTL were located in the edQTL regions. The hotspot genomic regions identified in this work will support further fine mapping and marker-assisted breeding of drought-tolerant maize.
