A worldwide maize panel revealed new genetic variation for cold tolerance

Key message A large association panel of 836 maize inbreds revealed a broader genetic diversity of cold tolerance, as predominantly favorable QTL with small effects were identified, indicating that genomic selection is the most promising option for breeding maize for cold tolerance. Maize ( Zea mays...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theoretical and applied genetics 2021-04, Vol.134 (4), p.1083-1094
Main Authors: Yi, Q., Álvarez-Iglesias, L., Malvar, R. A., Romay, M. C., Revilla, Pedro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Alleles
Biochemistry
Biological diversity
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biotechnology
Chromosome Mapping - methods
Chromosomes, Plant - genetics
Cold
Cold Temperature
Cold tolerance
Corn
Genetic aspects
Genetic diversity
Genetic variability
Genome-Wide Association Study
Germination
Germplasm
Heritability
Inbreeding
Life Sciences
Organelles
Original Article
Phenotype
Plant Biochemistry
Plant Breeding
Plant Breeding/Biotechnology
Plant Genetics and Genomics
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Quantitative genetics
Quantitative Trait Loci
Seedlings
Single nucleotide polymorphisms
Single-nucleotide polymorphism
Zea mays
Zea mays - genetics
Zea mays - physiology
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Summary:Key message A large association panel of 836 maize inbreds revealed a broader genetic diversity of cold tolerance, as predominantly favorable QTL with small effects were identified, indicating that genomic selection is the most promising option for breeding maize for cold tolerance. Maize ( Zea mays L.) has limited cold tolerance, and breeding for cold tolerance is a noteworthy bottleneck for reaching the high potential of maize production in temperate areas. In this study, we evaluate a large panel of 836 maize inbred lines to detect genetic loci and candidate genes for cold tolerance at the germination and seedling stages. Genetic variation for cold tolerance was larger than in previous reports with moderately high heritability for most traits. We identified 187 significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were integrated into 159 quantitative trait loci (QTL) for emergence and traits related to early growth. Most of the QTL have small effects and are specific for each environment, with the majority found under control conditions. Favorable alleles are more frequent in 120 inbreds including all germplasm groups, but mainly from Minnesota and Spain. Therefore, there is a large, potentially novel, genetic variability in the germplasm groups represented by these inbred lines. Most of the candidate genes are involved in metabolic processes and intracellular membrane-bounded organelles. We expect that further evaluations of germplasm with broader genetic diversity could identify additional favorable alleles for cold tolerance. However, it is not likely that further studies will find favorable alleles with large effects for improving cold tolerance in maize.
ISSN:0040-5752
1432-2242
DOI:10.1007/s00122-020-03753-3