The tassel architecture of maize (Zea mays L.), which plays an important role in F₁ hybrid seed production and yield performance, is genetically controlled by quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Here, we constructed a high-density SNP-based genetic map using an F₂ population containing 148 individuals. This genetic map included 7613 SNPs whose average genetic distance was 0.19 cM. On account of the F₂ population, we detected 14 QTLs responsible for tassel branch number (TBN), tassel weight (TW), central spike length (CSL), and meristem length (ML); eight of these QTLs demonstrated a relatively high level of phenotypic variation explanation (PVE) (PVE ≥ 10%), at a high level of significance. qTW-2 was a major QTL (LOD = 10.11 and PVE = 28.82%), and this QTL and qTBN-2 shared the same region, indicating a possible pleiotropic effect. An F_2:3 population was developed to further verify QTLs in the F₂ population. Finally, qTBN-5, qTW-2 and qCSL_N-10 were detected reproducibly. To help screen potential candidate genes, we chose 12 genes within the regions of qTBN-5, qML-6, qCSL_N-7 and qTW-2 and that were possibly involved in tassel morphogenesis according to Gene Ontology (GO) annotation analysis and performed quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The expression of eight of the 12 genes was significantly (P < 0.05) or extremely significantly different (P < 0.01) between parents of the F₂ population during the young tassel development stage, suggesting that those eight were possible candidate genes. These results provide insights into the genetic mechanisms controlling tassel architecture and will benefit both tassel-related QTL fine mapping and causal gene cloning in maize.

中文翻译：

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基于SNP的高密度遗传图谱揭示了玉米与Ta穗相关性状的可重复QTL。

玉米（Zea mays L.）的流苏结构在数量性状位点（QTL）的遗传控制下，在F ₁杂交种子的生产和产量表现中发挥重要作用。在这里，我们使用包含148个个体的F ₂种群构建了一个基于SNP的高密度遗传图谱。该遗传图谱包括7613个SNP，其平均遗传距离为0.19 cM。根据F ₂种群，我们检测到14个QTL，这些QTL负责流苏的分支数（TBN），流苏的重量（TW），中央穗长（CSL）和分生组织长度（ML）。这些QTL中有8个表现出较高的表型变异解释（PVE）（PVE≥10％），并且具有很高的意义。qTW-2是主要的QTL（LOD = 10.11，PVE = 28.82％），并且该QTL和qTBN-2共享同一区域，表明可能存在多效作用。开发了F _2：3种群以进一步验证F ₂种群中的QTL 。最后，可重复检测到qTBN-5，qTW-2和qCSL_N-10。为了帮助筛选潜在的候选基因，我们选择了qTBN-5，qML-6，qCSL_N-7和qTW-2区域内的12个基因根据基因本体论（GO）注释分析，它们可能参与了流苏的形态发生，并进行了定量实时聚合酶链反应（qRT-PCR）。在年轻的流苏发育阶段， F ₂群体的父母之间的12个基因中的8个基因的表达显着（P  <0.05）或极显着不同（P <0.01），表明这8个是可能的候选基因。这些结果为控制流苏结构的遗传机制提供了见识，并将有益于流苏相关的QTL精细定位和玉米的因果基因克隆。