Among the top three cereal crops producing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Asia, and Latin America, maize (Zea mays L.) is a major source of food security and economic development for these countries. However, maize lacks a required amount of the essential amino acids lysine and tryptophan in its endosperm. In the mid-1960 breeding for improved protein quality in maize was started to overcome the two amino acids deficient in maize endosperm proteins, and came up with the discovery of mutants, such as opaque-2, that produce enhanced levels of lysine and tryptophan. Despite these achievements, adverse pleiotropic effects imposed severe constraints on the successful exploitation of these mutants. A collaboration work from different background disciplines of researchers corrected the negative features of the opaque phenotypes has ensured the rebirth of QPM after long efforts. QPM has twice the amount of lysine and tryptophan, as well as protein bioavailability that rivals milk casein when comparing with conventional maize types. It was confirmed that 100 g QPM is required for children and nearly 500 g for adults to maintain the adequacy of lysine and tryptophan. Relatively this represents a 40% reduction in maize intake to common maize to meet protein requirements. Therefore, this review will highlight the history of developing QPM, the efforts that have been made to recovery technical problems raised to develop nutritionally enriched maize successfully through both conventional and molecular breeding methods, and indicating the need for intensification of efforts to create a greater impact on malnutrition in maize consuming populations, especially in developing countries.

在撒哈拉以南非洲 (SSA)、亚洲和拉丁美洲的三大谷物作物中，玉米 (Zea mays L.) 是这些国家粮食安全和经济发展的主要来源。然而，玉米在其胚乳中缺乏必需氨基酸赖氨酸和色氨酸。1960 年中期，开始为改善玉米蛋白质质量而进行育种，以克服玉米胚乳蛋白质中缺乏的两种氨基酸，并发现了突变体，例如 opaque-2，可产生更高水平的赖氨酸和色氨酸。尽管取得了这些成就，但不利的多效性影响严重限制了这些突变体的成功开发。来自不同背景学科的研究人员的合作工作纠正了不透明表型的负面特征，确保了QPM经过长期努力的重生。与传统玉米类型相比，QPM 的赖氨酸和色氨酸含量是牛奶酪蛋白的两倍，蛋白质生物利用度也可与牛奶酪蛋白相媲美。经证实，儿童需要100克QPM，成人需要近500克才能维持赖氨酸和色氨酸的充足。相对而言，这意味着普通玉米的玉米摄入量减少了 40%，以满足蛋白质需求。因此，本综述将重点介绍开发 QPM 的历史，为通过常规和分子育种方法成功开发营养丰富的玉米而提出的恢复技术问题所做的努力，