Meta-QTL analysis and candidate genes identification for lodging resistance in maize: Ⅰ. stalk related traits

Lodging seriously affects maize yield and quality, complicating mechanical harvest. Lodging can be caused by environmental and genetic factors. While many quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been identified from different types of genetic populations using different mapping methods, to identify the genetic mechanisms that affect maize stalk lodging resistance, few QTLs have been successfully used in maize breeding programs. Therefore, identifying QTLs that are stable and that can be introgressed into elite cultivars using marker-assisted selection has commercial and agricultural implications. Following a review of 31 published studies on stalk lodging resistance in maize we collected 546 QTLs. After synthesizing data from these studies, a meta-QTL analysis is performed using BiomercatorV4.2 to identify 70 MQTLs for maize lodging resistance, and six candidate genes in meta-QTL intervals base on orthologous analysis with rice lodging cloned genes. Specific expression patterns reveal these genes to be involved in stalk development. These candidate genes may be important for engineering lodging-resistance in maize.