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A maize QTL for silk maysin levels contains duplicated Myb-homologous genes which jointly regulate flavone biosynthesis

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Abstract

The maize p1 locus coincides with a major QTL (quantitative trait locus) determining levels of maysin, a C-glycosyl flavone that deters feeding by corn ear-worm. The p1 gene is tightly linked with a second gene, p2, and both genes encode similar Myb-domain proteins. We show here that maize cell cultures transformed with either the p1or p2 genes expressed under a constitutive promoter accumulate transcripts for flavonoid biosynthetic genes, and synthesize phenylpropanoids and C-glycosyl flavones related to maysin. Additionally, maize plants that are deleted for the p1 gene have reduced maysin levels and moderate silk-browning reaction, whereas plants with a deletion of both p1 and p2 have non-detectable silk maysin and non-browning silks. We conclude that both p1 and p2 induce maysin biosynthesis in silk, although the two genes differ in their expression and pigmentation effects in other tissues. These results show that a QTL for flavone biosynthesis actually comprises two tightly linked genes with related functions.

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Author notes

  1. Peifen Zhang

    Present address: Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Genetics, and Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Peifen Zhang, Yibin Wang, Jianbo Zhang & Thomas Peterson

  2. Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Sheila Maddock

Authors
  1. Peifen Zhang
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  2. Yibin Wang
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  3. Jianbo Zhang
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  5. Maurice Snook
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  6. Thomas Peterson
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Correspondence to Thomas Peterson.

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Zhang, P., Wang, Y., Zhang, J. et al. A maize QTL for silk maysin levels contains duplicated Myb-homologous genes which jointly regulate flavone biosynthesis. Plant Mol Biol 52, 1–15 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023942819106

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