1. Mutations in the maize zeta-carotene desaturase gene lead to viviparous kernel.
- Author
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Chen, Yan, Li, Jiankun, Fan, Kaijian, Du, Yicong, Ren, Zhenjing, Xu, Jing, Zheng, Jun, Liu, Yunjun, Fu, Junjie, Ren, Dongtao, and Wang, Guoying
- Subjects
CORN quality ,GENETIC mutation ,DESATURASES ,CAROTENES ,CORN yields - Abstract
Preharvest sprouting reduces the maize quality and causes a significant yield loss in maize production. vp-wl2 is a Mutator (Mu)-induced viviparous mutant in maize, causing white or pale yellow kernels, dramatically reduced carotenoid and ABA content, and a high level of zeta-carotene accumulation. Here, we reported the cloning of the vp-wl2 gene using a modified digestion-ligation-amplification method (DLA). The results showed that an insertion of Mu9 in the first intron of the zeta-carotene desaturase (ZDS) gene results in the vp-wl2 mutation. Previous studies have suggested that ZDS is likely the structural gene of the viviparous9 (vp9) locus. Therefore, we performed an allelic test using vp-wl2 and three vp9 mutants. The results showed that vp-wl2 is a novel allele of the vp9 locus. In addition, the sequences of ZDS gene were identified in these three vp9 alleles. The vp-wl2 mutant gene was subsequently introgressed into four maize inbred lines, and a viviparous phenotype was observed with yield losses from 7.69% to 13.33%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
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