Loading…
Meta-analysis and co-expression analysis revealed stable QTL and candidate genes conferring resistances to Fusarium and Gibberella ear rots while reducing mycotoxin contamination in maize
Fusarium (FER) and Gibberella ear rots (GER) are the two most devastating diseases of maize ( Zea mays L.) which reduce yield and affect grain quality worldwide, especially by contamination with mycotoxins. Genetic improvement of host resistance to effectively tackle FER and GER diseases requires th...
Saved in:
Published in: | Frontiers in plant science 2022-10, Vol.13, p.1050891-1050891 |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Summary: | Fusarium (FER) and Gibberella ear rots (GER) are the two most devastating diseases of maize (
Zea mays
L.) which reduce yield and affect grain quality worldwide, especially by contamination with mycotoxins. Genetic improvement of host resistance to effectively tackle FER and GER diseases requires the identification of stable quantitative trait loci (QTL) to facilitate the application of genomics-assisted breeding for improving selection efficiency in breeding programs. We applied improved meta-analysis algorithms to re-analyze 224 QTL identified in 15 studies based on dense genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in order to identify meta-QTL (MQTL) and colocalized genomic loci for fumonisin (FUM) and deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation, silk (SR) and kernel (KR) resistances of both FER and GER, kernel dry-down rate (KDD) and husk coverage (HC). A high-resolution genetic consensus map with 36,243 loci was constructed and enabled the projection of 164 of the 224 collected QTL. Candidate genes (CG) mining was performed within the most refined MQTL, and identified CG were cross-validated using publicly available transcriptomic data of maize under
Fusarium graminearum
infection. The meta-analysis revealed 40 MQTL, of which 29 were associated each with 2-5 FER- and/or GER-related traits. Twenty-eight of the 40 MQTL were common to both FER and GER resistances and 19 MQTL were common to silk and kernel resistances. Fourteen most refined MQTL on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 harbored a total of 2,272 CG. Cross-validation identified 59 of these CG as responsive to FER and/or GER diseases. MQTL
ZmMQTL2.2
,
ZmMQTL9.2
and
ZmMQTL9.4
harbored promising resistance genes, of which
GRMZM2G011151
and
GRMZM2G093092
were specific to the resistant line for both diseases and encoded “
terpene synthase21 (tps21)
” and “
flavonoid O-methyltransferase2 (fomt2)
”, respectively. Our findings revealed stable refined MQTL harboring promising candidate genes for use in breeding programs for improving FER and GER resistances with reduced mycotoxin accumulation. These candidate genes can be transferred into elite cultivars by integrating refined MQTL into genomics-assisted backcross breeding strategies. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1664-462X 1664-462X |
DOI: | 10.3389/fpls.2022.1050891 |