title: Combined Linkage and Association Mapping Reveals QTL and Candidate Genes for Plant and Ear Height in Maize.
abstract: Plant height (PH) and ear height (EH) are two very important agronomic traits related to the population density and lodging in maize. In order to better understand of the genetic basis of nature variation in PH and EH, two bi-parental populations and one genome-wide association study (GWAS) population were used to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for both traits. Phenotypic data analysis revealed a wide normal distribution and high heritability for PH and EH in the three populations, which indicated that maize height is a highly polygenic trait. A total of 21 QTL for PH and EH in three common genomic regions (bin 1.05, 5.04/05, and 6.04/05) were identified by QTL mapping in the two bi-parental populations under multiple environments. Additionally, 41 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified for PH and EH by GWAS, of which 29 SNPs were located in 19 unique candidate gene regions. Most of the candidate genes were related to plant growth and development. One QTL on Chromosome 1 was further verified in a near-isogenic line (NIL) population, and GWAS identified a C2H2 zinc finger family protein that maybe the candidate gene for this QTL. These results revealed that nature variation of PH and EH are strongly controlled by multiple genes with low effect and facilitated a better understanding of the underlying mechanism of height in maize.
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiaopeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Junqiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yabin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ruixia
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jinliang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Shiwei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xuecai
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zongliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jiafa
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Agronomy, Synergetic Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops and National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jianyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
keywords: association mapping; candidate gene; ear height; maize; plant height; quantitative trait locus