Batiru Grigorii, Lübberstedt Thomas
Department of Agronomy and Environment, Technical University of Moldova, MD-2049, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova.
Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011-1051, USA.
Theor Appl Genet. 2024 Jul 13;137(8):182. doi: 10.1007/s00122-024-04688-9.
Polyploidy played an important role in the evolution of the three most important crops: wheat, maize and rice, each of them providing a unique model for studying allopolyploidy, segmental alloploidy or paleopolyploidy. However, its genetic and evolutionary role is still vague. The undelying mechanisms and consequences of polyploidy remain fundamental objectives in the study of eukaryotes. Maize is one of the underutilized crops at the polyploid level. This species has no stable natural polyploids, the existing ones being artificially obtained. From the experimental polyploid series of maize, only the tetraploid forms (4n = 40) are of interest. They are characterized by some valuable morphological, physiological and biochemical features, superior to the diploid forms from which they originated, but also by some drawbacks such as: reduced fertility, slower development, longer vegetation period, low productivity and adaptedness. Due to these barriers to using tetraploids in field production, maize tetraploids primarily found utility in scientific studies regarding genetic variability, inbreeding, heterosis and gene dosage effect. Since the first mention of a triploid maize plant to present, many scientists and schools, devoted their efforts to capitalize on the use of polyploidy in maize. Despite its common disadvantages as a crop, significant progress in developing tetraploid maize with good agronomic performance was achieved leading to registered tetraploid maize varieties. In this review we summarize and discuss the different aspects of polyploidy in maize, such as evolutionary context, methods of induction, morphology, fertility issue, inheritance patterns, gene expression and potential use.
多倍体在三种最重要的作物（小麦、玉米和水稻）的进化过程中发挥了重要作用，它们各自为研究异源多倍体、节段异源多倍体或古多倍体提供了独特的模型。然而，其遗传和进化作用仍不明确。多倍体的潜在机制和后果仍是真核生物研究的基本目标。玉米是多倍体水平上未得到充分利用的作物之一。该物种没有稳定的天然多倍体，现有的多倍体是人工获得的。在玉米的实验多倍体系列中，只有四倍体形式（4n = 40）具有研究价值。它们具有一些有价值的形态、生理和生化特征，优于其起源的二倍体形式，但也存在一些缺点，如：育性降低、发育缓慢、生育期延长、生产力和适应性低。由于这些在田间生产中使用四倍体的障碍，玉米四倍体主要在关于遗传变异性、近亲繁殖、杂种优势和基因剂量效应的科学研究中发挥作用。自从首次提及三倍体玉米植株至今，许多科学家和学派致力于利用玉米中的多倍体。尽管作为一种作物存在普遍缺点，但在培育具有良好农艺性能的四倍体玉米方面取得了重大进展，导致了四倍体玉米品种的注册。在这篇综述中，我们总结并讨论了玉米多倍体的不同方面，如进化背景、诱导方法、形态、育性问题、遗传模式、基因表达和潜在用途。
