Seebauer Juliann R, Below Frederick E
Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 322A E R Madigan Laboratory, 1201 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
Methods Mol Biol. 2018;1676:3-13. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-7315-6_1.
Grain yield in maize is the result of a genotype's response to environmental conditions and agronomic management. However, whether in a field, greenhouse, or growth chamber, plant-to-plant variation exists within the same genotype, necessitating large amounts of plants and growth area to determine a metabolic response to a change in growth conditions or fertilizer supply. Additionally, because of whole-plant interactions in the supply of nutrients to kernels, it is difficult to study assimilate or temperature effects on the growth of kernels. The in vitro growth of kernels is one way to circumvent this problem because it allows for kernel growth under defined conditions of nutrient supply, while minimizing environmental and maternal influences. The in vitro kernel culturing method can be used to identify source: sink relationships, assimilate transport, metabolism, plant growth regulators, and other physiological responses by altering the source supply to individual kernels within an ear, thereby reducing or controlling environmental effects, while maintaining kernel-cob and organ-wide interactions. A single control-pollinated immature maize ear can be divided and quickly subjected to various growth conditions using liquid media to more precisely generate physiological and metabolic changes in the earshoot than in planta.
玉米的籽粒产量是基因型对环境条件和农艺管理作出反应的结果。然而，无论是在田间、温室还是生长室中，同一基因型的植株间都存在差异，这就需要大量的植株和生长面积来确定代谢对生长条件变化或肥料供应的反应。此外，由于在向籽粒供应养分过程中存在整株植物间的相互作用，因此很难研究同化物或温度对籽粒生长的影响。籽粒的体外生长是解决这一问题的一种方法，因为它能使籽粒在特定的养分供应条件下生长，同时将环境和母体的影响降至最低。体外籽粒培养方法可用于通过改变果穗上单个籽粒的源供应来确定源库关系、同化物运输、代谢、植物生长调节剂及其他生理反应，从而减少或控制环境影响，同时保持籽粒 - 穗轴及全器官间的相互作用。单个人工授粉的未成熟玉米果穗可以分开，并使用液体培养基快速置于各种生长条件下，从而比在植株体内更精确地在穗芽中产生生理和代谢变化。
