QTL Mapping of Somatic Regeneration-Related Traits in Maize

The somatic regeneration of maize depends on its genotypes, so improving its variety with modern biotechnology is severely restricted. Locating the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with somatic regeneration is important for breeding elite inbred lines that undergo genetic transformations. Here, by crossing the high-regeneration inbred line H99 and non-regeneration inbred line Fr993, an F2 population and its F2:3 and F2:4 population families were constructed. Immature embryos from the family populations were subjected to tissue culture in two independent seasons to determine their embryogenic callus induction rates (EIRs), green callus rates (GCRs) and plantlet regeneration rates (PRRs). Genetic linkage maps were constructed for the F2 population to locate somatic regeneration QTLs. The results showed that variation in the EIR, GCR and PRR ranged from 0.00–99.33%, and their broad-sense heritabilities were 0.50, 0.52 and 0.53, respectively. The total genetic distance of the linkage maps constructed by the GenoBaits 10 K chip was 2319.50 cM, and twelve QTLs were associated with somatic regeneration traits, accounting for 3.90–14.06% of the phenotypic variation. Expression analysis revealed six candidate genes screened from the QTLs with distinct responses to induction culture in the parental lines, suggesting that they may impact commitment to somatic cell fate. These results provide a basis for the molecular breeding of maize varieties with high-frequency somatic regeneration.