As well as being a popular vegetable crop worldwide,waxy corn represents an important amylopectin source,but little is known about its breeding history and flavor characteristics.In this study,through comparative-omic...As well as being a popular vegetable crop worldwide,waxy corn represents an important amylopectin source,but little is known about its breeding history and flavor characteristics.In this study,through comparative-omic analyses between 318 diverse waxy corn and 507 representative field corn inbred lines we revealed that many metabolic pathways and genes exhibited selection characteristics during the breeding history of waxy corn,contributing to the divergence between waxy and field corn.We showed that waxy corn is not only altered in its glutinous property but also its sweetness,aroma,and palatability are all significantly affected.A substantial proportion(43%)of flavor-related metabolites have pleiotropic effects,affecting both flavor and yield characteristics,and 27%of these metabolites are related to antagonistic outcomes on yield and flavor.Furthermore,through multiple concrete examples,we demonstrated how yield and quality are coordinately or antagonistically regulated at the genetic level.In particular,some sweet molecules,such as DIMBOA and raffinose,which do not participate in the starch biosynthesis pathway,were identified as potential targets for breeding a new type of“sweet-waxy”corn.Taken together,our findings shed light on the historical selection of waxy corn and demonstrate the genetic and metabolic basis of waxy corn flavor,collectively providing valuable resources and knowledge for future crop breeding for improved nutritional quality.展开更多
Genome information from model species such as rice can assist in the cloning of genes in a complex genome, such as maize. Here, we identified a maize ortholog of rice GS5 that contributes to kernel development in maiz...Genome information from model species such as rice can assist in the cloning of genes in a complex genome, such as maize. Here, we identified a maize ortholog of rice GS5 that contributes to kernel development in maize. The genome- wide association analysis of the expression levels of ZmGSs, and 15 of its 26 paralogs, identified a trans-regulator on chromosome 7, which was a BAK1-1ike gene. This gene that we named as ZmBAK1-7 could regulate the expression of ZmGS5 and three of the paralogs. Candidate-gene association analyses revealed that these five genes were associated with maize kernel development-related traits. Linkage analyses also detected that ZINGS5 and ZmI3AK1-7 co-localized with mapped QTLs. A transgenic analysis of ZINGS5 in Arabidopsis thaliana L. showed a significant increase in seed weight and cell number, suggesting that 2mG55 may have a conserved function among different plant species that affects seed development.展开更多
基金Biological Breeding-National Science and Technology Major Project(2023ZD04073)National Natural Science Foundation of China(32321005,32101773,31971964)+1 种基金China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2022M711280)Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province(2023A0505090005).
文摘As well as being a popular vegetable crop worldwide,waxy corn represents an important amylopectin source,but little is known about its breeding history and flavor characteristics.In this study,through comparative-omic analyses between 318 diverse waxy corn and 507 representative field corn inbred lines we revealed that many metabolic pathways and genes exhibited selection characteristics during the breeding history of waxy corn,contributing to the divergence between waxy and field corn.We showed that waxy corn is not only altered in its glutinous property but also its sweetness,aroma,and palatability are all significantly affected.A substantial proportion(43%)of flavor-related metabolites have pleiotropic effects,affecting both flavor and yield characteristics,and 27%of these metabolites are related to antagonistic outcomes on yield and flavor.Furthermore,through multiple concrete examples,we demonstrated how yield and quality are coordinately or antagonistically regulated at the genetic level.In particular,some sweet molecules,such as DIMBOA and raffinose,which do not participate in the starch biosynthesis pathway,were identified as potential targets for breeding a new type of“sweet-waxy”corn.Taken together,our findings shed light on the historical selection of waxy corn and demonstrate the genetic and metabolic basis of waxy corn flavor,collectively providing valuable resources and knowledge for future crop breeding for improved nutritional quality.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31222041)the National Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (2012AA10A307)
文摘Genome information from model species such as rice can assist in the cloning of genes in a complex genome, such as maize. Here, we identified a maize ortholog of rice GS5 that contributes to kernel development in maize. The genome- wide association analysis of the expression levels of ZmGSs, and 15 of its 26 paralogs, identified a trans-regulator on chromosome 7, which was a BAK1-1ike gene. This gene that we named as ZmBAK1-7 could regulate the expression of ZmGS5 and three of the paralogs. Candidate-gene association analyses revealed that these five genes were associated with maize kernel development-related traits. Linkage analyses also detected that ZINGS5 and ZmI3AK1-7 co-localized with mapped QTLs. A transgenic analysis of ZINGS5 in Arabidopsis thaliana L. showed a significant increase in seed weight and cell number, suggesting that 2mG55 may have a conserved function among different plant species that affects seed development.
