Washburn Jacob D, LaFond Harper F, Lapadatescu Martian C, Pereira Adriano E, Erb Matthias, Hibbard Bruce E
United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service, Plant Genetics Research Unit, 519 S College Avenue, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
Division of Plant Science & Technology, University of Missouri, 2-64 Agriculture Building, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
J Econ Entomol. 2023 Dec 11;116(6):2184-2192. doi: 10.1093/jee/toad181.
Western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (LeConte) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is the most serious economic pest of maize, Zea mays (L.) (Poales: Poaceae), in the U.S. Corn Belt and also threatens production in Europe. Traditional management options have repeatedly failed over time as western corn rootworm rapidly develops resistance to insecticides, transgenic maize and even crop rotation. Traits that improve host plant resistance and tolerance are highly sought after by plant breeders for crop protection and pest management. However, maize resistance to western corn rootworm appears to be highly complex and despite over 75 yr of breeding efforts, there are no naturally resistant hybrids available commercially. Using phenotypic data from field and greenhouse experiments on a highly diverse collection of 282 inbred lines, we screened and genetically mapped western corn rootworm-related traits to identify genetic loci which may be useful for future breeding or genetic engineering efforts. Our results confirmed that western corn rootworm resistance is complex with relatively low heritability due in part to strong genotype by environment impacts and the inherent difficulties of phenotyping below ground root traits. The results of the Genome Wide Associated Study identified 29 loci that are potentially associated with resistance to western corn rootworm. Of these loci, 16 overlap with those found in previous transcription or mapping studies indicating a higher likelihood they are truly involved in maize western corn rootworm resistance. Taken together with previous studies, these results indicate that breeding for natural western corn rootworm resistance will likely require the stacking of multiple small effect loci.
西部玉米根萤叶甲，即 Diabrotica virgifera virgifera（LeConte）（鞘翅目：叶甲科），是美国玉米带对玉米（Zea mays (L.)，禾本目：禾本科）危害最严重的经济害虫，同时也对欧洲的玉米生产构成威胁。随着时间的推移，传统的防治方法屡屡失败，因为西部玉米根萤叶甲能迅速对杀虫剂、转基因玉米甚至轮作产生抗性。植物育种者迫切需要能够提高寄主植物抗性和耐受性的性状，以实现作物保护和害虫治理。然而，玉米对西部玉米根萤叶甲的抗性似乎极为复杂，尽管历经了75年以上的育种努力，市面上仍没有天然抗性的杂交品种。我们利用对282个自交系的高度多样化群体进行田间和温室试验所获得的表型数据，筛选并对与西部玉米根萤叶甲相关的性状进行了遗传定位，以确定可能对未来育种或基因工程工作有用的基因位点。我们的结果证实，西部玉米根萤叶甲抗性较为复杂，遗传力相对较低，部分原因是基因型与环境的强烈相互作用，以及对地下根系性状进行表型分析存在固有困难。全基因组关联研究结果确定了29个可能与西部玉米根萤叶甲抗性相关的位点。在这些位点中；有16个与先前转录或定位研究中发现的位点重叠，这表明它们更有可能真正参与了玉米对西部玉米根萤叶甲的抗性。综合先前的研究，这些结果表明，培育天然抗西部玉米根萤叶甲的品种可能需要累加多个效应较小的基因位点。
