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Submitted to: Maize Genetics Conference Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 3/18/2001 Publication Date: 3/18/2001 Citation: SCOTT, M.P. ANALYSIS OF NUTRITIONALLY LIMITING AMINO ACIDS IN MAIZE POPULATIONS. MAIZE GENETICS CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS. 2001. http://www.maizegdb.org/cgi-bin/displayrefrecord.cgi?id=315123. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: The nutritional value of corn is limited by the level of lysine, tryptophan and methionine in the kernel. Determination of the levels of these amino acids is normally done by HPLC and costs around $100 per sample. In plant breeding programs, it is necessary to analyze thousands of samples, so it is prohibitively expensive to use amino acid analysis to select for varieties with increased levels of these amino acids. Instead, breeders have relied on mutation breeding and more recently, transgenic approaches to increase the levels of these amino acids in maize. Here I report the development of high-throughput methods to quantify these amino acids, using either chemical analysis or auxotrophic mutants of E. coli. The cost of these analyses is less than $1 per sample, which is sufficiently low to meet the high-throughout needs of a breeding program. The amino acid content of several maize populations as well as five of inbred lines and their o2 conversions has been analyzed. Individuals from these population have been identified with tryptophan levels that are competitive with those of o2 lines. It may therefore be possible to develop populations and inbred lines with tryptophan levels equivalent to o2 varieties without the detrimental affects of the o2 mutation. |
