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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Genet.
Sec. Genomics of Plants and the Phytoecosystem
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1577830
This article is part of the Research Topic Precision Trait Mapping and Molecular Breeding in High-Impact Crop Plants View all 3 articles
Gaining insights into genomic regions associated with Chilo partellus resistance in Teosinte derived maize population
Provisionally accepted
Ramandeep Kaur 1
Gurpreet Kaur 1 Navpreet Nil 1 Ashmita Sethi 1 Jawala Jindal 1
Ramesh Kumar 2
Pardeep - Kumar 2
Yogesh Vikal 1
Priti Sharma 1*- 1 Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India
- 2 Indian Institute of Maize Research, Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology (ICAR), Ludhiana, Punjab, India
Maize stem borer (Chilo partellus) is an important primary pest of maize crop and it feeds on leaves, cobs and pith that leads to complete damage of the plant and thus leads to less productivity of maize.Teosinte-a wild progenitor of maize is an important source of genetic variability and possesses diverse alleles for resistance against biotic and abiotic stresses. Therefore, Teosinte is a promising candidate for introducing genetic diversity into cultivated maize germplasm by domesticating its wild alleles. In this study, we investigated the genomic regions in F6 Teosinte-derived maize mapping population (Recombinant inbred lines) from the cross of LM13 and Teosinte (Zea mays sps. parviglumis) during 2020-2023. The F6 mapping population (89 lines) thus developed was genotyped using Genotyping by Sequencing (GBS) approach and SSR markers. The population was screened against Chilo partellus (Leaf injury rating and % Dead heart) during Kharif 2023 & 2024 (June to September). The Chilo partellus infestation showed significant differences among the F6 lines in respect of leaf injury rating (LIR) and % dead heart measured. The leaf injury rating ranged from 1.7 to 7.7 in the population. The phenotypic and molecular data from SSR and SNP markers were used for Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping. A total of four putative QTLs (qLIR_4.1, qLIR_9.1, qDH_1.1 and qDH_2.1) for both the traits were identified on chromosome 1, 2, 4 and 9. The QTLs identified can be used for marker assisted breeding to develop hybrids resistant to Chilo partellus. From the literature review, we conclude that our study represents the first report of identifying Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) associated with Chilo partellus resistance in maize in Asia. The findings generated from the study could be utilized in the future for fine mapping, expression analysis and development of marker tags that can be utilized for marker-assisted selection aimed at improving maize resistance to pest.
Keywords: Quantitative Trait Loci, Chilo partellus, Genotyping by sequencing, SSR markers, SNP markers
Received: 16 Feb 2025; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kaur, Kaur, Nil, Sethi, Jindal, Kumar, Kumar, Vikal and Sharma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Priti Sharma, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India
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