title: Molecular mapping in tropical maize (Zea mays L.) using microsatellite markers. 2. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for grain yield, plant height, ear height and grain moisture.
abstract: A previous genetic map containing 117 microsatellite loci and 400 F(2) plants was used for quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping in tropical maize. QTL were characterized in a population of 400 F(2:3) lines, derived from selfing the F(2) plants, and were evaluated with two replications in five environments. QTL determinations were made from the mean of these five environments. Grain yield (GY), plant height (PH), ear height (EH) and grain moisture (GM) were measured. Variance components for genotypes (G), environments (E) and GxE interaction were highly significant for all traits. Heritability was 0.69 for GY, 0.66 for PH, 0.67 for EH and 0.23 for GM. Using composite interval mapping (CIM), a total of 13 distinct QTLs were identified: four for GY, four for PH and five for EH. No QTL was detected for GM. The QTL explained 32.73 % of the phenotypic variance of GY, 24.76 % of PH and 20.91 % of EH. The 13 QTLs displayed mostly partial dominance or overdominance gene action and mapped to chromosomes 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9. Most QTL alleles conferring high values for the traits came from line L-14-4B. Mapping analysis identified genomic regions associated with two or more traits in a manner that was consistent with correlation among traits, supporting either pleiotropy or tight linkage among QTL. The low number of QTLs found, can be due to the great variation that exists among tropical environments.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genética, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (CBMEG/UNICAMP), Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz, Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sérgio Tadeu
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Sibov
authors.forename: Cláudio Lopes
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: Antonio Augusto Franco
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Adelmo Rezende
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Alexandre Franco
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Claudete Aparecida
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Mangolin
authors.forename: Luciana Lasry
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Benchimol
authors.forename: Anete Pereira
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: de Souza
mesh_terms: D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D014867:Water