Sweet corn (Zea mays L.), a highly consumed fresh vegetable in the United States, varies for tocochromanol (tocopherol and tocotrienol) levels but makes only a limited contribution to daily intake of vitamin E and antioxidants. We performed a genome‐wide association study of six tocochromanol compounds and 14 derivative traits across a sweet corn inbred line association panel to identify genes associated with natural variation for tocochromanols and vitamin E in fresh kernels. Concordant with prior studies in mature maize kernels, an association was detected between γ‐tocopherol methyltransferase (vte4) and α‐tocopherol content, along with tocopherol cyclase (vte1) and homogentisate geranylgeranyltransferase (hggt1) for tocotrienol variation. Additionally, two kernel starch synthesis genes, shrunken2 (sh2) and sugary1 (su1), were associated with tocotrienols, with the strongest evidence for sh2, in combination with fixed, strong vte1 and hggt1 alleles, accounting for the greater amount of tocotrienols in su1sh2 and sh2 lines. In prediction models with genome‐wide markers, predictive abilities were higher for tocotrienols than tocopherols, and these models were superior to those that used marker sets targeting a priori genes involved in the biosynthesis and/or genetic control of tocochromanols. Through this quantitative genetic analysis, we have established a key step for increasing tocochromanols in fresh kernels of sweet corn for human health and nutrition.

中文翻译：

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新鲜甜玉米仁中生育酚铬烷醇的全基因组关联和基因组预测模型。

甜玉米（Zea mays L.）是美国高消费的新鲜蔬菜，其生育酚铬酚（生育酚和生育三烯酚）的含量各不相同，但对每天摄入的维生素E和抗氧化剂的贡献有限。我们在一个甜玉米近交系关联小组中对6种生育酚铬色素化合物和14个衍生性状进行了全基因组关联研究，以鉴定与新鲜籽粒中生育酚铬色素和维生素E的自然变异相关的基因。一致，在成熟的玉米籽粒现有研究中，γ生育酚甲基（VTE4）和α生育酚含量之间检测的关联，以沿着生育酚环化酶（VTE1）和尿香叶基香叶基（hggt1）用于生育三烯酚的变化。此外，两个内核淀粉合成的基因，shrunken2（SH2）和sugary1（SU1），用生育三烯酚相关联，与最强证据SH2，在与固定的，强组合VTE1和hggt1等位基因，占生育三烯酚的量越大su1sh2和sh2线。在具有全基因组标记的预测模型中，生育三烯酚的预测能力要高于生育酚，并且这些模型优于使用针对先验基因的标记集的模型，这些先验基因参与生育酚的生物合成和/或遗传控制。通过这种定量的遗传分析，我们已经确立了增加甜玉米新鲜籽粒中的生育酚铬醇含量以促进人类健康和营养的关键步骤。