Preharvest sprouting reduces the maize quality and causes a significant yield loss in maize production.vp-wl2 is a Mutator (Mu)-induced viviparous mutant in maize, causing white or pale yellow kernels, dramatically reduced carotenoid and ABA content, and a high level of zeta-carotene accumulation.Here, we reported the cloning 1073spx of the vp-wl2 gene using a modified digestion-ligation-amplification method (DLA).
The results showed that an insertion of Mu9 in the first intron of the zeta-carotene desaturase (ZDS) gene results in the vp-wl2 mutation.Previous studies have suggested sten jacket m that ZDS is likely the structural gene of the viviparous9 (vp9) locus.Therefore, we performed an allelic test using vp-wl2 and three vp9 mutants.
The results showed that vp-wl2 is a novel allele of the vp9 locus.In addition, the sequences of ZDS gene were identified in these three vp9 alleles.The vp-wl2 mutant gene was subsequently introgressed into four maize inbred lines, and a viviparous phenotype was observed with yield losses from 7.
69% to 13.33%.