Summary

Maize grains are the important source of food and energy, but possess very low proVA (provitamin A) (< 2.5 μg/g) compared to target level of 15 μg/g set by HarvestPlus. Also maize exhibits tremendous natural variation for provitamin A carotenoids. The lcyE (lycopene epsilon cyclase) and crtRB1 (b-carotene hydroxylase 1) are the crucial genes whose naturally existing mutant alleles resulted in significantly enhanced accumulation of provitamin A compounds in the maize kernels.

The aim of this project is to identify the romanian Zea mays lines, that possess the favorable alleles of the crtRB1 and lcyE genes, and their use as donors in order to obtain new hybrids with high concentrations of ProVA. To accomplish this we will analyze more then 3000 lines from the main research stations and from different geographic areas of Romania. We will use the multiplex PCR assay for simultaneous identification of favourable/rare alleles of lcyE and CrtRB1 genes.

We will sequence and identify the SNPs or InDels implicated in the favorable alleles of genes differentiating the high and low proVA genotypes. These mutations hold significance in enrichment of proVA in maize for marker development and their use in marker-assisted selection (MAS).

Then we will determine the content in proVA at the lines identified using the HPLC technique. All these new data will help us to predict crosses among new identified maize lines from different heterotic groups (based on previously genotyping data) that will lead to the integration of the favourable/rare alleles of lcyE and crtRB1 genes for high proVA concentration into new hibrids or into other widely utilized QPM maize lines characterized by a high amount of proVA.