Abstract
Maize grain yield can be greatly reduced when flowering time coincides with drought conditions, which delays silking and consequently increases the anthesis-silking interval. Although the genetic basis of delayed flowering time under water-stressed conditions has been elucidated in maize-maize populations, little is known in this regard about maize-teosinte populations. Here, 16 quantitative trait loci (QTL) for three flowering-time traits, namely days to anthesis, days to silk, and the anthesis-silking interval, were identified in a maize-teosinte introgression population under well-watered and water-stressed conditions; these QTL explained 3.98–32.61% of phenotypic variations. Six of these QTL were considered to be sensitive to drought stress, and the effect of any individual QTL was small, indicating the complex genetic nature of drought resistance in maize. To resolve which genes underlie the six QTL, 11 candidate genes were identified via colocalization analysis of known associations with flowering-time-related drought traits. Among the 11 candidate genes, five were found to be differentially expressed in response to drought stress or under selection during maize domestication, and thus represented the most likely candidates underlying the drought-sensitive QTL. The results lay a foundation for further studies of the genetic mechanisms of drought resistance and provide valuable information for improving drought resistance during maize breeding.
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This research was supported by the Project of Renovation Capacity Building for the Young Sci-Tech Talents Sponsored by **njiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (xjnkq-2019004), the open funds of the Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding (PL202002), and the Bei**g Outstanding Young Scientist Program (BJJWZYJH01201910019026).
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X. Y. and F. Q. conceived and designed the research. H. T., X. X., L. Z., C. L., and B. S. performed the experiments. H. T., R. Z., M. W., and X. Z. analyzed the data. H. T., R. Z., and X. Y. wrote the manuscript. F. Q. edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Tang, H., Zhang, R., Wang, M. et al. QTL map** for flowering time in a maize-teosinte population under well-watered and water-stressed conditions. Mol Breeding 43, 67 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-023-01413-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-023-01413-0