Genetic dissection of QTLs for oil content in four maize DH populations

Xiaolei Zhang; Min Wang; Haitao Guan; Hongtao Wen; Changzheng Zhang; Changjun Dai; Jing Wang; Bo Pan; Jialei Li; Hui Liao

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1174985

Genetic dissection of QTLs for oil content in four maize DH populations

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Apr 12:14:1174985. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1174985. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiaolei Zhang¹, Min Wang², Haitao Guan¹, Hongtao Wen¹, Changzheng Zhang³, Changjun Dai¹, Jing Wang¹, Bo Pan¹, Jialei Li⁴, Hui Liao¹

Affiliations

¹ Quality and Safety Institute of Agricultural Products, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.
² National Maize Improvement Center of China, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
³ Maize Yufeng Biotechnology LLC, Beijing, China.
⁴ Food Processing Institute, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.

Abstract

Oil is one of the main components in maize kernels. Increasing the total oil content (TOC) is favorable to optimize feeding requirement by improving maize quality. To better understand the genetic basis of TOC, quantitative trait loci (QTL) in four double haploid (DH) populations were explored. TOC exhibited continuously and approximately normal distribution in the four populations. The moderate to high broad-sense heritability (67.00-86.60%) indicated that the majority of TOC variations are controlled by genetic factors. A total of 16 QTLs were identified across all chromosomes in a range of 3.49-30.84% in term of phenotypic variation explained. Among them, six QTLs were identified as the major QTLs that explained phenotypic variation larger than 10%. Especially, qOC-1-3 and qOC-2-3 on chromosome 9 were recognized as the largest effect QTLs with 30.84% and 21.74% of phenotypic variance, respectively. Seventeen well-known genes involved in fatty acid metabolic pathway located within QTL intervals. These QTLs will enhance our understanding of the genetic basis of TOC in maize and offer prospective routes to clone candidate genes regulating TOC for breeding program to cultivate maize varieties with the better grain quality.

Keywords: DH; Maize; QTL; kernel; oil.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.22152380.v1

Grants and funding

This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant number 32201798 and Heilongjiang Scientific Research Business Expenses Project of China, grant number CZKYF2023-1-C001.