Genetic Diversity within a Collection of Italian Maize Inbred Lines: A Resource for Maize Genomics and Breeding.

Genetic diversity is fundamental for studying the complex architecture of the traits of agronomic importance, controlled by major and minor loci. Moreover, well-characterized germplasm collections are essential tools for dissecting and analyzing genetic and phenotypic diversity in crops. A panel of 360 entries, a subset of a larger collection maintained within the GenBank at CREA Bergamo, which includes the inbreds derived from traditional Italian maize open-pollinated (OP) varieties and advanced breeding ones (Elite Inbreds), was analyzed to identify SNP markers using the tGBS genotyping-by-sequencing technology.