AbstractRecombinant inbred lines (RILs) are an important resource for mapping genes controlling complex traits in many species. While RIL populations have been developed for maize, a maize RIL population with multiple teosinte inbred lines as parents has been lacking. Here, we report a teosinte nested association mapping population (TeoNAM), derived from crossing five teosinte inbreds to the maize inbred line W22. The resulting 1257 BC1S4 RILs were genotyped with 51,544 SNPs, providing a high-density genetic map with a length of 1540 cM. On average, each RIL is 15% homozygous teosinte and 8% heterozygous. We performed joint linkage mapping (JLM) and genome-wide association study (GWAS) for 22 domestication and agronomic traits. A total of 255 QTLs from JLM were identified with many of these mapping to known genes or novel candidate genes. TeoNAM is a useful resource for QTL mapping for the discovery of novel allelic variation from teosinte. TeoNAM provides the first report that PROSTRATE GROWTH1, a rice domestication gene, is also a QTL associated with tillering in teosinte and maize. We detected multiple QTLs for flowering time and other traits for which the teosinte allele contributes to a more maize-like phenotype. Such QTL could be valuable in maize improvement.
A donor-specific QTL, exhibiting allelic variation for leaf sheath hairiness in a nested association mapping population, is located on barley chromosome 4H
