Abstract
Maize rough dwarf disease (MRDD) is a destructive viral disease in China, which results in 20–30% of the maize yield losses in affected areas and even as high as 100% in severely infected fields. Understanding the genetic basis of resistance will provide important insights for maize breeding program. In this study, a diverse maize population comprising of 527 inbred lines was evaluated in four environments and a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was undertaken with over 556000 SNP markers. Fifteen candidate genes associated with MRDD resistance were identified, including ten genes with annotated protein encoding functions. The homologous of nine candidate genes were predicted to relate to plant defense in different species based on published results. Significant correlation (R2 = 0.79) between the MRDD severity and the number of resistance alleles was observed. Consequently, we have broadened the resistant germplasm to MRDD and identified a number of resistance alleles by GWAS. The results in present study also imply the candidate genes in defense pathway play an important role in resistance to MRDD in maize.
Highlights
IntroductionMaize rough dwarf disease (MRDD) is one of the destructive viral diseases that result in direct yield loss in maize world [2,3,4,5]
In maize, at least ten viruses caused significant agronomic losses globally [1]
Phenotypic variations for Maize rough dwarf disease (MRDD) resistance in association panel The field trial was conducted in four environments (i.e., Yancheng and Jining in 2011, Jining in 2012 and Kaifeng in 2013) to evaluate the resistance to MRDD
Summary
Maize rough dwarf disease (MRDD) is one of the destructive viral diseases that result in direct yield loss in maize world [2,3,4,5]. It was firstly reported in 1954 in China, and became more and more popular since 1990s partly because of the changes in the cultivation patterns along with the repeated occurrence of warmer winters [6,7]. Yield loss caused by MRDD was estimated to be 20–30%, even as high as 100% in severely infected fields [8,9]. The typical symptoms of MRDD included severe dwarfing and stunting, dark-green and leathery leaves, and at adult stage, the tassels and ears of diseased plants were malformed and PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0142001 November 3, 2015
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