Combined BSA-Seq and RNA-Seq Reveal Genes Associated with the Visual Stay-Green of Maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.)

oleh: Ran Zheng, Min Deng, Dan Lv, Bo Tong, Yuqing Liu, Hongbing Luo

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-12-01

Deskripsi

Maize has become one of the most widely grown grains in the world, and the stay-green mutant allows these plants to maintain their green leaves and photosynthetic potential for longer following anthesis than in non-mutated plants. As a result, stay-green plants have a higher production rate than non-stay-green varieties due to their prolonged grain-filling period. In this study, the candidate genes related to the visual stay-green at the maturation stage of maize were investigated. The F<sub>2</sub> population was derived from the T01 (stay-green) and the Xin3 (non-stay-green) cross. Two bulked segregant analysis pools were constructed. According to the method of combining ED (Euclidean distance), Ridit (relative to an identified distribution unit), SmoothG, and SNP algorithms, a region containing 778 genes on chromosome 9 was recognized as the candidate region associated with the visual stay-green in maize. A total of eight modules were identified using WGCNA (weighted correlation network analysis), of which green, brown, pink, and salmon modules were significantly correlated with visual stay-green. BSA, combined with the annotation function, discovered 7 potential candidate genes, while WGCNA discovered 11 stay-green potential candidate genes. The candidate range was further reduced due through association analysis of BSA-seq and RNA-seq. We identified <i>Zm00001eb378880</i>, <i>Zm00001eb383680,</i> and <i>Zm00001eb384100</i> to be the most likely candidate genes. Our results provide valuable insights into this new germplasm resource with reference to increasing the yield for maize.