Molecular Marker Analysis of Genetic Diversity in Maize: A Review

Abstract

Maize is consumed as a food and used as an industrial product in the form of starch, pharmaceuticals, alcoholic beverages, oil, cosmetics, and textiles. In ancient times, landraces were more popular due to the presence of high genetic variability, resistance to biotic and abiotic factors, and the heterogeneous nature of maize; however, it has been replaced by improved and uniform cultivars with a higher yield. Modern maize has more homogeneity that enhances its vulnerability to biotic and abiotic stresses. Thus, we need to study the diversity in maize to successfully use its characteristics. Several markers such as morphological, biochemical, and DNA-based markers/molecular markers are utilized to study the germplasm diversity. Although extensively used, morphological and biochemical markers were highly sensitive to the environment because of which, these are being replaced by molecular markers. In the current era of molecular markers, DNA markers play an important role in identifying diverse germplasms because of high precision and accuracy. In this review, we focused on the types of markers utilized to accelerate the knowledge of maize genetic diversity and the prospect of genetic diversity.