AUTHOR=Das Abhijit K. , Gowda Munegowda M. , Muthusamy Vignesh , Zunjare Rajkumar U. , Chauhan Hema S. , Baveja Aanchal , Bhatt Vinay , Chand Gulab , Bhat Jayant S. , Guleria Satish K. , Saha Supradip , Gupta Hari S. , Hossain Firoz 

TITLE=Development of Maize Hybrids With Enhanced Vitamin-E, Vitamin-A, Lysine, and Tryptophan Through Molecular Breeding

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.659381

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2021.659381

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Malnutrition is a widespread problem that affects human health, society, and the economy. Traditional maize that serves as an important source of human nutrition is deficient in vitamin-E, vitamin-A, lysine, and tryptophan. Here, favorable alleles of <italic>vte4</italic> (α<italic>-tocopherol methyl transferase</italic>), <italic>crtRB1</italic> (β<italic>-carotene hydroxylase</italic>), <italic>lcyE</italic> (<italic>lycopene</italic> ε<italic>-cyclase</italic>), and <italic>o2</italic> (<italic>opaque2</italic>) genes were combined in parental lines of four popular hybrids using marker-assisted selection (MAS). BC<sub>1</sub>F<sub>1</sub>, BC<sub>2</sub>F<sub>1</sub>, and BC<sub>2</sub>F<sub>2</sub> populations were genotyped using gene-based markers of <italic>vte4, crtRB1, lcyE</italic>, and <italic>o2</italic>. Background selection using 81–103 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers led to the recovery of recurrent parent genome (RPG) up to 95.45%. Alpha (α)-tocopherol was significantly enhanced among introgressed progenies (16.13 μg/g) as compared to original inbreds (7.90 μg/g). Provitamin-A (proA) (10.42 μg/g), lysine (0.352%), and tryptophan (0.086%) were also high in the introgressed progenies. The reconstituted hybrids showed a 2-fold enhancement in α-tocopherol (16.83 μg/g) over original hybrids (8.06 μg/g). Improved hybrids also possessed high proA (11.48 μg/g), lysine (0.367%), and tryptophan (0.084%) when compared with traditional hybrids. The reconstituted hybrids recorded the mean grain yield of 8,066 kg/ha, which was <italic>at par</italic> with original hybrids (mean: 7,846 kg/ha). The MAS-derived genotypes resembled their corresponding original hybrids for the majority of agronomic and yield-related traits, besides characteristics related to distinctness, uniformity, and stability (DUS). This is the first report for the development of maize with enhanced vitamin-E, vitamin-A, lysine, and tryptophan.</p>