Identification of a pleiotropic QTL and candidate genes underlying ear traits of maize (Zea mays L.) through controlling the activity of inflorescence meristem
- 1The Shennong Laboratory/Institute of Crop Molecular Breeding, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences
- 2Department of Plant Genetics and Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Maize Bio-breeding, Key Laboratory of Genome Editing Research and Application, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, National Maize Improvement Center, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University
Abstract
Background The ear of maize is a highly domesticated organ that has undergone a substantial increase in volume compared to its wild ancestor teosinte, resulting in a significant yield enhancement in modern cultivated maize. Application of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) mapping using the maize-teosinte segregation population facilitated the identification of more potential favorable variations for utilization in cultivation. However, the mature ear traits of the maize-teosinte population are influenced by genetic introgression from teosinte, which poses significant challenges to the investigation of yield-related traits due to abnormal sex differentiation of the inflorescence at the immature ear stage. Results This study investigated mature ear traits along with the activity of the female inflorescence meristem (IM) using a Teosinte‑Maize introgression (TM) population via measuring the IM size. A total of 32 QTLs were detected across multiple environments over several years, with individual QTLs explaining 5.18% to 21.48% of the phenotypic variation. Notably, a major pleiotropic QTL regulating IM size and many ear traits was identified and narrowed to a 3.64 cM genetic interval on chromosome 3, namely qIM3. One candidate gene encoding ZmEREB147 (Zm00001d043205) was identified with the help of transcriptome data, and Gene Ontology (GO) analysis demonstrated that qIM3 is involved in several hormone-mediated pathways and meristem development. Conclusions The rapid implementation of these findings in maize molecular breeding holds important potential application value and provides broad prospects for improving maize yield.
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BibTeX
@article{shen2026identification,
title = {{Identification of a pleiotropic QTL and candidate genes underlying ear traits of maize (Zea mays L.) through controlling the activity of inflorescence meristem}},
author = {Xiaomeng Shen and Yifei Wang and Luyuan Wang and Yan Bai and Fenglin Jiang and Luling Jiang and Xiangyin Hou and Jinsheng Lai and Liru Cao and Weibin Song},
journal = {BMC Genomics},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s12864-026-13186-9},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-026-13186-9},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Identification of a pleiotropic QTL and candidate genes underlying ear traits of maize (Zea mays L.) through controlling the activity of inflorescence meristem
AU - Xiaomeng Shen
AU - Yifei Wang
AU - Luyuan Wang
AU - Yan Bai
AU - Fenglin Jiang
AU - Luling Jiang
AU - Xiangyin Hou
AU - Jinsheng Lai
AU - Liru Cao
AU - Weibin Song
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - BMC Genomics
DO - 10.1186/s12864-026-13186-9
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-026-13186-9
AB - Background The ear of maize is a highly domesticated organ that has undergone a substantial increase in volume compared to its wild ancestor teosinte, resulting in a significant yield enhancement in modern cultivated maize. Application of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) mapping using the maize-teosinte segregation population facilitated the identification of more potential favorable variations for utilization in cultivation. However, the mature ear traits of the maize-teosinte population are influenced by genetic introgression from teosinte, which poses significant challenges to the investigation of yield-related traits due to abnormal sex differentiation of the inflorescence at the immature ear stage. Results This study investigated mature ear traits along with the activity of the female inflorescence meristem (IM) using a Teosinte‑Maize introgression (TM) population via measuring the IM size. A total of 32 QTLs were detected across multiple environments over several years, with individual QTLs explaining 5.18% to 21.48% of the phenotypic variation. Notably, a major pleiotropic QTL regulating IM size and many ear traits was identified and narrowed to a 3.64 cM genetic interval on chromosome 3, namely qIM3. One candidate gene encoding ZmEREB147 (Zm00001d043205) was identified with the help of transcriptome data, and Gene Ontology (GO) analysis demonstrated that qIM3 is involved in several hormone-mediated pathways and meristem development. Conclusions The rapid implementation of these findings in maize molecular breeding holds important potential application value and provides broad prospects for improving maize yield.
SN - 1471-2164
ER -