Introgression of Perennial Teosinte Genome into Maize and Identification of Genomic In Situ Hybridization and Microsatellite Markers

Abstract

To transfer desirable characters from perennial teosinte [Zea perennis (Hitchc.) Reeves & Mangelsd.] into maize (Z. mays L.), we have generated an interspecific hybrid and its backcross generations (BC1F3). The maize × perennial teosinte BC1F3 (MZI202) resembled maize, with chromosome number 2n = 20. MZI202 was studied by multicolor genomic in situ hybridization (McGISH) and simple‐sequence repeat (SSR) microsatellites markers. The McGISH experiments provided direct evidence that MZI202 was a maize–perennial teosinte substitution line with introgression of three alien chromosomes from perennial teosinte. The SSR assay further confirmed that a single chromosome 6 and the pair of chromosome 10 of maize were replaced by perennial teosinte chromosomes in MZI202.