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. 2024 Sep 11;25(1):852.
doi: 10.1186/s12864-024-10754-9.

Genetic analysis of QTLs for lysine content in four maize DH populations

Xiaolei Zhang  1   2 , Hongtao Wen  1   2 , Jing Wang  1   2 , Lin Zhao  1   2 , Lei Chen  3 , Jialei Li  4 , Haitao Guan  5   6 , Zhenhai Cui  7 , Baohai Liu  8   9
Affiliations

Genetic analysis of QTLs for lysine content in four maize DH populations

Xiaolei Zhang et al. BMC Genomics. .

Abstract

Background: Low levels of the essential amino acid lysine in maize endosperm is considered to be a major problem regarding the nutritional quality of food and feed. Increasing the lysine content of maize is important to improve the quality of food and feed nutrition. Although the genetic basis of quality protein maize (QPM) has been studied, the further exploration of the quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying lysine content variation still needs more attention.

Results: Eight maize inbred lines with increased lysine content were used to construct four double haploid (DH) populations for identification of QTLs related to lysine content. The lysine content in the four DH populations exhibited continuous and normal distribution. A total of 12 QTLs were identified in a range of 4.42-12.66% in term of individual phenotypic variation explained (PVE) which suggested the quantitative control of lysine content in maize. Five main genes involved in maize lysine biosynthesis pathways in the QTL regions were identified in this study.

Conclusions: The information presented will allow the exploration of candidate genes regulating lysine biosynthesis pathways and be useful for marker-assisted selection and gene pyramiding in high-lysine maize breeding programs.

Keywords: Double haploid population; Genetic analysis; Lysine content; Maize; QPM.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Frequency distributions of lysine content in AF109, AF116, AF129 and AF170 populations. In normal maize endosperm, the range of lysine content is 0.130–0.300% [44, 45]
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The distribution of QTLs across the entire genome in the four DH populations. A-D designated AF109, AF116, AF129 and AF170 population, respectively
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Overlaps of QTLs for lysine biosynthesis among the DH populations and all types of other populations. The present and reported populations were labeled on the left and the number of identified QTLs was below
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The key candidate genes related to lysine biosynthesis pathway in present QTLs intervals. The QTLs identified in four DH populations are represented as vertical rectangles of different colors next to each chromosome. The left labels denote known genes that co-localized with the QTLs
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