title: Broadening Our Portfolio in the Genetic Improvement of Maize Chemical Composition.
abstract: The adoption of recombinant inbred line and introgression line populations, as well as the study of association mapping panels, has greatly accelerated our ability to identify the genes underlying plant phenotypic variance. In tandem, the development of metabolomics approaches has greatly enhanced our ability to comprehensively define cellular chemical composition. As a consequence, breeding for chemical composition is being extended beyond our traditional targets of oil and protein to include components such as essential amino acids, vitamins, and antioxidant secondary metabolites with considerable purported consequences for human health. Here, we review the above-mentioned developments paying particular attention to the genetic architecture of metabolic traits as well as updating the perspective for utilizing metabolomics in maize improvement.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiol., 14476 Potsdam Golm, Germany; National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiol., 14476 Potsdam Golm, Germany; Department of Life Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Yariv
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Brotman
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiol., 14476 Potsdam Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Lothar
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Willmitzer
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Jianbing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiol., 14476 Potsdam Golm, Germany. Electronic address: fernie@mpimp-golm.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Alisdair R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Fernie
mesh_terms: D000601:Amino Acids, Essential / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001947:Breeding; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005838:Genotype; D055432:Metabolomics; D010641:Phenotype; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000601:Amino Acids, Essential; D010938:Plant Oils; D010940:Plant Proteins
keywords: biofortification; crop breeding; maize; metabolomics