Li Xin, Zhao Xiaoqiang, Sun Siqi, Tao Kejin, Niu Yining
State Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China.
State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Plants (Basel). 2025 Jun 24;14(13):1943. doi: 10.3390/plants14131943.
Plant height (PH) and ear height (EH) are closely related to dense planting characteristics and lodging resistance of maize ( L.). Increasing the planting density will lead to changes in the structural characteristics of maize plants, such as reduced stem length and stem strength, thereby influencing their yield and quality. Therefore, analyzing the genetic basis of PH and EH in maize can provide valuable information for cultivating ideal plant types with suitable PH and EH. This study aims to identify stable genomic regions and candidate genes associated with PH and EH in maize through Meta-QTL (MQTL) analysis. A total of 187 original QTLs were collected from 13 published articles on QTL localization related to maize PH and EH. A high-density consistency map with a total length of 6970.00 cM was constructed, and 152 original QTLs were successfully projected into the consistency map. The remaining 35 QTLs could not be projected onto the consistency map, which may be attributed to a lack of common markers between the original and consistency map or to the QTL exhibiting low phenotypic variance explained (PVE), resulting in large confidence intervals (CIs). Then, 29 MQTLs were identified on 10 chromosomes via meta-analysis. Among them, the three identified MQTLs, i.e., MQTL4-1, MQTL4-2, and MQTL6-1, were specifically controlled by maize EH. Further analysis achieved 188 candidate genes in all MQTL intervals, which were related to maize plant development and morphogenesis. Meanwhile, the gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis revealed that these candidate genes were involved in 77 GO annotations. These findings thus will help us better understand the molecular genetic basis of maize PH and EH under various environments, and thereby achieve an increased yield with maize dense planting breeding.
株高（PH）和穗位高（EH）与玉米的密植特性和抗倒伏性密切相关。种植密度增加会导致玉米植株结构特性发生变化，如茎长缩短和茎强度降低，从而影响其产量和品质。因此，分析玉米PH和EH的遗传基础可为培育具有适宜PH和EH的理想株型提供有价值的信息。本研究旨在通过元QTL（MQTL）分析鉴定与玉米PH和EH相关的稳定基因组区域和候选基因。从13篇已发表的关于玉米PH和EH的QTL定位文章中收集了总共187个原始QTL。构建了一个全长6970.00 cM的高密度一致性图谱，152个原始QTL成功投射到该一致性图谱上。其余35个QTL无法投射到一致性图谱上，这可能是由于原始图谱和一致性图谱之间缺乏共同标记，或者是由于该QTL表现出较低的表型变异解释率（PVE），导致置信区间（CI）较大。然后，通过元分析在10条染色体上鉴定出29个MQTL。其中，鉴定出的3个MQTL，即MQTL4-1、MQTL4-2和MQTL6-1，专门控制玉米的EH。进一步分析在所有MQTL区间获得了188个候选基因，这些基因与玉米植株发育和形态发生有关。同时，基因本体（GO）富集分析表明这些候选基因参与了77个GO注释。因此，这些发现将有助于我们更好地理解不同环境下玉米PH和EH的分子遗传基础，从而通过玉米密植育种提高产量。
