Toxins 2016, 8(9), 258; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins8090258
Confirmation and Fine Mapping of a Major QTL for Aflatoxin Resistance in Maize Using a Combination of Linkage and Association Mapping
Yu Zhang 1,†, Min Cui 1,†, Jimin Zhang 2, Lei Zhang 1, Chenliu Li 1, Xin Kan 1, Qian Sun 1, Dexiang Deng 1 and Zhitong Yin 1,*
1
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
2
Zhenjiang BGI Fisheries Science & Technology Industrial Company Limited, Zhenjiang 212000, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Shohei Sakuda
Received: 22 July 2016 / Revised: 19 August 2016 / Accepted: 26 August 2016 / Published: 2 September 2016
(This article belongs to the Collection Aflatoxins)
Abstract
Maize grain contamination with aflatoxin from Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus) is a serious health hazard to animals and humans. To map the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with resistance to A. flavus, we employed a powerful approach that differs from previous methods in one important way: it combines the advantages of the genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) and traditional linkage mapping analysis. Linkage mapping was performed using 228 recombinant inbred lines (RILs), and a highly significant QTL that affected aflatoxin accumulation, qAA8, was mapped. This QTL spanned approximately 7 centi-Morgan (cM) on chromosome 8. The confidence interval was too large for positional cloning of the causal gene. To refine this QTL, GWAS was performed with 558,629 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in an association population comprising 437 maize inbred lines. Twenty-five significantly associated SNPs were identified, most of which co-localised with qAA8 and explained 6.7% to 26.8% of the phenotypic variation observed. Based on the rapid linkage disequilibrium (LD) and the high density of SNPs in the association population, qAA8 was further localised to a smaller genomic region of approximately 1500 bp. A high-resolution map of the qAA8 region will be useful towards a marker-assisted selection (MAS) of A. flavus resistance and a characterisation of the causal gene. View Full-TextKeywords:
Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus); genome-wide association analysis (GWAS); linkage mapping; maize; molecular marker; quantitative trait locus (QTL); recombinant inbred line (RIL)
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Zhang, Y.; Cui, M.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, L.; Li, C.; Kan, X.; Sun, Q.; Deng, D.; Yin, Z. Confirmation and Fine Mapping of a Major QTL for Aflatoxin Resistance in Maize Using a Combination of Linkage and Association Mapping. Toxins 2016, 8, 258.
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