Improving resistance to the European corn borer: a comprehensive study in elite maize using QTL mapping and genome-wide prediction.

The efficiency of marker-assisted selection for native resistance to European corn borer stalk damage can be increased when progressing from a QTL-based towards a genome-wide approach. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) has been shown to be effective in improving resistance to the European corn borer (ECB) in maize. In this study, we investigated the performance of whole-genome-based selection, relative to selection based on individual quantitative trait loci (QTL), for resistance to ECB stalk damage in European elite maize.

Polymorphisms in O-methyltransferase genes are associated with stover cell wall digestibility in European maize (Zea mays L.).

Background: OMT (O-methyltransferase) genes are involved in lignin biosynthesis, which relates to stover cell wall digestibility. Reduced lignin content is an important determinant of both forage quality and ethanol conversion efficiency of maize stover.

Results: Variation in genomic sequences coding for COMT, CCoAOMT1, and CCoAOMT2 was analyzed in relation to stover cell wall digestibility for a panel of 40 European forage maize inbred lines, and re-analyzed for a panel of 34 lines from a published French study.

Characterization of phenylpropanoid pathway genes within European maize (Zea mays L.) inbreds.

Background: Forage quality of maize is influenced by both the content and structure of lignins in the cell wall. Biosynthesis of monolignols, constituting the complex structure of lignins, is catalyzed by enzymes in the phenylpropanoid pathway.

Results: In the present study we have amplified partial genomic fragments of six putative phenylpropanoid pathway genes in a panel of elite European inbred lines of maize (Zea mays L.

High levels of linkage disequilibrium and associations with forage quality at a phenylalanine ammonia-lyase locus in European maize (Zea mays L.) inbreds.

Forage quality of maize is influenced by both the content and structure of lignin in the cell wall. Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase (PAL) catalyzes the first step in lignin biosynthesis in plants; the deamination of L-phenylalanine to cinnamic acid. Successive enzymatic steps lead to the formation of three monolignols, constituting the complex structure of lignin.