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Identification and fine-mapping of a major QTL conferring resistance against head smut in maize

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Abstract

Head smut is one of the most devastating diseases in maize, causing severe yield loss worldwide. Here we report identification and fine-mapping of a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) conferring resistance to head smut. Two inbred lines ‘Ji1037’ (donor parent, highly resistant) and ‘Huangzao4’ (recurrent parent, highly susceptible) were crossed and then backcrossed to ‘Huangzao4’ to generate BC populations. Four putative resistance QTLs were detected in the BC1 population, in which the major one, designated as qHSR1, was mapped on bin 2.09. The anchored ESTs, IDPs, RGAs, BAC and BAC-end sequences in bin 2.09 were exploited to develop markers to saturate the qHSR1 region. The recombinants in the qHSR1 region were obtained by screening the BC2 population and then backcrossed again to ‘Huangzao4’ to produce 59 BC2:3 families or selfed to generate nine BC2F2 families. Individuals from each BC2:3 or BC2F2 family were evaluated for their resistances to head smut and genotypes at qHSR1. Analysis of genotypes between the resistant and susceptible groups within the same family allows deduction of phenotype of its parental BC2 recombinant. Based on the 68 BC2 recombinants, the major resistance QTL, qHSR1, was delimited into an interval of ~2 Mb, flanked by the newly developed markers SSR148152 and STS661. A large-scale survey of BC2:3 and BC2F2 progeny indicated that qHSR1 could exert its genetic effect by reducing the disease incidence by ~25%.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the national outstanding youth foundation of China, ‘Construction of a linkage map for genome-wide resistance gene analogs and isolation of important genes in maize’, Grant No. 30525035; the national ‘863’ high-tech program of China, ‘Functional genomics on resistance to diseases, tolerance to abiotic stress, and grain quality in maize’, Grant No. 2006AA10A107.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Maize Improvement Center of China, China Agricultural University, 2 West Yuanmingyuan Rd, 100193, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Yongsheng Chen, Qing Chao, Jing Zhao, Qing Ji & Mingliang Xu

  2. Maize Research Institute, Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Gongzhuling, Jilin, People’s Republic of China

    Guoqing Tan

  3. College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University, 12 East Wenhui Road, 225009, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Meijing Zhang

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  1. Yongsheng Chen
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  2. Qing Chao
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  3. Guoqing Tan
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  4. Jing Zhao
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  5. Meijing Zhang
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  6. Qing Ji
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  7. Mingliang Xu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mingliang Xu.

Additional information

Communicated by M. Bohn.

Yongsheng Chen, Qing Chao and Guoqing Tan contributed equally to this work.

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Chen, Y., Chao, Q., Tan, G. et al. Identification and fine-mapping of a major QTL conferring resistance against head smut in maize. Theor Appl Genet 117, 1241–1252 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-008-0858-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-008-0858-4

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