Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Genetic Basis of Trace Elements Accumulation in Maize Kernels
Fucheng Zhao,
Nan Wang,
Fei Bao,
Guangwu Zhao,
Liquan Jing,
Guiyue Wang,
Qinghui Han,
Zhuanfang Hao,
Bin Chen
Affiliations
Fucheng Zhao
Institute of Maize and Featured Upland Crops, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dongyang 322100, China
Nan Wang
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Fei Bao
Institute of Maize and Featured Upland Crops, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dongyang 322100, China
Guangwu Zhao
The Key Laboratory for Quality Improvement of Agricultural Products of Zhejiang Province, College of Advanced Agricultural Science, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Liquan Jing
Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Agricultural College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
Guiyue Wang
Institute of Maize and Featured Upland Crops, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dongyang 322100, China
Qinghui Han
The Key Laboratory for Quality Improvement of Agricultural Products of Zhejiang Province, College of Advanced Agricultural Science, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Zhuanfang Hao
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Bin Chen
Institute of Maize and Featured Upland Crops, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dongyang 322100, China
Clarifying the genetic basis of trace element accumulation is of great significance to breed new maize varieties with high quality. In this study, an integrated variant map with 1.25 million (M) SNPs and 489 inbred lines was used for a genome-wide association study on the accumulation of iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd) and Arsenic (As) in maize kernels. Seventeen SNPs linked with six genes were overlapped by different trace elements. After further analysis, 65 SNPs located in 28 genes with a p-value lower than 10−10 were associated with Cd content by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). There was a 3.1-fold difference in Cd content between different groups, which was divided by SNP haplotype in chr2.S_160782359, chr2.S_161045498 and chr2.S_161273716. The amino acid sequences of GRMZM2G150608 and GRMZM2G051367 only shared 68.85% and 88.16% similarity between B73 and Mo17, and the Cd content of Mo17 was 2.2-fold that of B73. In addition, 19 lines with higher contents of Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn and fewer contents of As and Cd were screened from GWAS associated populations. This study will lay a foundation for revealing the molecular mechanism of trace element accumulation in maize kernels and provide candidate genes for breeding new maize varieties with high nutritional quality.
