AUTHOR=Yang Haoxiang , Zhang Ziran , Zhang Ning , Li Ting , Wang Junjie , Zhang Qing , Xue Jiquan , Zhu Wanchao , Xu Shutu 

TITLE=QTL mapping for plant height and ear height using bi-parental immortalized heterozygous populations in maize

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2024.1371394

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2024.1371394

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Plant height (PH) and ear height (EH) are key plant architectural traits in maize, which will affect the photosynthetic efficiency, high plant density tolerance, suitability for mechanical harvesting</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>QTL mapping were conducted for PH and EH using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and two corresponding immortalized backcross (IB) populations obtained from crosses between the RIL population and the two parental lines.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>A total of 17 and 15 QTL were detected in the RIL and IB populations, respectively. Two QTL, <italic>qPH1-1</italic> (<italic>qEH1-1</italic>) and <italic>qPH1-2</italic> (<italic>qEH1-4</italic>) in the RIL, were simultaneously identified for PH and EH. Combing reported genome-wide association and cloned PH-related genes, co-expression network analyses were constructed, then five candidate genes with high confidence in major QTL were identified including <italic>Zm00001d011117</italic> and <italic>Zm00001d011108</italic>, whose homologs have been confirmed to play a role in determining PH in maize and soybean.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>QTL mapping used a immortalized backcross population is a new strategy. These identified genes in this study can provide new insights for improving the plant architecture in maize.</p></sec>