Abstract
Development of vitamin A-rich cereals can help in alleviating the widespread problem of vitamin A deficiency. We report here significant enhancement of kernel β-carotene in elite maize genotypes through accelerated marker-assisted backcross breeding. A favourable allele (543 bp) of the β-carotene hydroxylase (crtRB1) gene was introgressed in the seven elite inbred parents, which were low (1.4 µg/g) in kernel β-carotene, by using a crtRB1-specific DNA marker for foreground selection. About 90% of the recurrent parent genome was recovered in the selected progenies within two backcross generations. Concentration of β-carotene among the crtRB1-introgressed inbreds varied from 8.6 to 17.5 µg/g - a maximum increase up to 12.6-fold over recurrent parent. The reconstituted hybrids developed from improved parental inbreds also showed enhanced kernel β-carotene as high as 21.7 µg/g, compared to 2.6 µg/g in the original hybrid. The reconstituted hybrids evaluated at two locations possessed similar grain yield to that of original hybrids. These β-carotene enriched high yielding hybrids can be effectively utilized in the maize biofortification programs across the globe.
Highlights
Micronutrient malnutrition, mainly due to iron, zinc, and vitamin A deficiencies, has become one of the major health problems in the developing world [1]
The challenge, lies in large-scale phenotyping for kernel carotenoids and methods such as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are time-consuming as well as expensive
The search for recurrent and donor parent polymorphism for crtRB1 showed a 543 bp amplicon in the donor parent whereas a distinct 296 bp amplicon and a faint 1221 bp amplicon were generated in the recurrent parent (Fig. 3)
Summary
Micronutrient malnutrition, mainly due to iron, zinc, and vitamin A deficiencies, has become one of the major health problems in the developing world [1]. Maize is consumed by more than a billion people in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and in many countries in Asia [6, 7]. It has been targeted for biofortification of many nutrients for decades, and the efforts have largely been successful [8,9,10]. MAS is a highly efficient breeding method as it allows precise selection of the target gene, thereby shortening the breeding cycle [13, 14] It is the most effective way of transferring specific genes to otherwise an agronomically superior cultivar [15, 16]. Marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB) for nutritional quality has been used with success over a decade for developing genotypes with improved endosperm quality [6, 9, 17, 18] and reduced anti-nutritional factors [19]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
