Affiliation:
1. National Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crops Science/Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops/College of Agronomy/The Shennong Laboratory Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou 450046 China
2. Hebi Academy of Agricultural Sciences Hebi 458030 Henan China
3. Rubber Research Institute Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences Haikou 571101 China
Abstract
SUMMARYMaize is one of the world's most important staple crops, yet its production is increasingly threatened by the rising frequency of high‐temperature stress (HTS). To investigate the genetic basis of anther thermotolerance under field conditions, we performed linkage and association analysis to identify HTS response quantitative trait loci (QTL) using three recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations and an association panel containing 375 diverse maize inbred lines. These analyses resulted in the identification of 16 co‐located large QTL intervals. Among the 37 candidate genes identified in these QTL intervals, five have rice or Arabidopsis homologs known to influence pollen and filament development. Notably, one of the candidate genes, ZmDUP707, has been subject to selection pressure during breeding. Its expression is suppressed by HTS, leading to pollen abortion and barren seeds. We also identified several additional candidate genes potentially underly QTL previously reported by other researchers. Taken together, our results provide a pool of valuable candidate genes that could be employed by future breeding programs aiming at enhancing maize HTS tolerance.