Tao Tianyun, Huang Qianfeng, Zuo Zhihao, Lu Yue, Su Xiaomin, Xu Yang, Li Pengcheng, Xu Chenwu, Yang Zefeng
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding, Agricultural College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
Front Genet. 2022 Aug 10;13:960529. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.960529. eCollection 2022.
Plant genes, encoding proteins harboring a placenta-specific eight domain, have been suggested to control fruit and grain size through regulating cell division, differentiation, and expansion. Here, we re-sequenced the nucleotide sequences of the maize gene, a member of the family, in 256 elite maize inbred lines, and the associations of nucleotide polymorphisms in this locus with 11 ear-related traits were further detected. A total of 175 variants, including 159 SNPs and 16 InDels, were identified in the locus. Although the promoter and downstream regions showed higher nucleotide polymorphism, the coding region also possessed 61 SNPs and 6 InDels. Eleven polymorphic sites in the locus were found to be significantly associated with eight ear-related traits. Among them, two nonsynonymous SNPs (SNP2370 and SNP2898) showed significant association with hundred kernel weight (HKW), and contributed to 7.11% and 8.62% of the phenotypic variations, respectively. In addition, the SNP2898 was associated with kernel width (KW), and contributed to 7.57% of the phenotypic variations. Notably, the elite allele T of SNP2370 was absent in teosintes and landraces, while its frequency in inbred lines was increased to 12.89%. By contrast, the frequency of the elite allele A of SNP2898 was 3.12% in teosintes, and it was raised to 12.68% and 19.92% in landraces and inbred lines, respectively. Neutral tests show that this locus wasn't artificially chosen during the process of domestication and genetic improvement. Our results revealed that the elite allelic variants in might possess potential for the genetic improvement of maize ear-related traits.
据推测，编码含有胎盘特异性八结构域蛋白质的植物基因可通过调节细胞分裂、分化和扩张来控制果实和籽粒大小。在此，我们对256个优良玉米自交系中属于该家族成员的玉米基因的核苷酸序列进行了重测序，并进一步检测了该位点核苷酸多态性与11个穗部相关性状的关联。在该位点共鉴定出175个变异，包括159个单核苷酸多态性（SNP）和16个插入缺失（InDel）。尽管启动子和下游区域显示出较高的核苷酸多态性，但编码区也有61个SNP和6个InDel。发现该位点的11个多态性位点与8个穗部相关性状显著关联。其中，两个非同义SNP（SNP2370和SNP2898）与百粒重（HKW）显著相关，分别解释了7.11%和8.62%的表型变异。此外，SNP2898与籽粒宽度（KW）相关，解释了7.57%的表型变异。值得注意的是，SNP2370的优良等位基因T在大刍草和地方品种中不存在，而其在自交系中的频率增加到了12.89%。相比之下，SNP2898的优良等位基因A在大刍草中的频率为3.12%，在地方品种和自交系中分别提高到了12.68%和19.92%。中性检验表明，该位点在驯化和遗传改良过程中未被人工选择。我们的结果表明，该位点的优良等位变异可能具有改良玉米穗部相关性状的潜力。
