ARS | Publication request: DEFINING GENES FOR QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI IN MAIZE: THE ROLE OF THE FLAVONOID PATHWAY GENES IN CORN EARWORM RESISTANCE.

Submitted to: Maize Genetics Conference Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: March 14, 1996
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: The interpretation and application of results of quantitative trait locus (QTL) studies to crop improvement are usually limited by the lack of information on metabolic pathways responsible for agronomic traits. An exception is antibiotic resistance to the corn earworm (CEW) by the C-glycosyl flavone, maysin, synthesized in maize silks via a branch of the well-characterized flavonoid pathway. Since cDNA probes are available for both structural and regulatory loci for the pathway, we have used this system as a model to define the nature of genes for QTL for maysin synthesis. The two most intriguing results from this study were: 1) the importance of regulatory as opposed to structural loci in determining maysin content and CEW resistance and 2) the apparent interplay of interconnecting pathways in determining QTL for CEW resistance.