Prospects of using zein markers in breeding waxy maize lines and varieties

Background. Among the numerous maize accessions in the VIR collection, Plant special attention is drawn to the lines and varieties of waxy maize due to their specific feature, that is, the content of high-quality grain starch that consists entirely of amylopectin. This amylopectin starch is of special interest to the medical, starch and syrup, and confectionary industries. One of the most important applications of amylopectin starch in medicine is its use as a component of "Volekam" blood plasma substitute. Besides amylopectin, the grain of other maize subspecies contains much amylose starch which makes production of purified amylopectin expensive. Therefore, the creation and study of domestic waxy maize lines and varieties is very topical, however it is insufficiently developed at present.

Materials and methods. For the first time, zein electrophoresis was used to analyze waxy maize old landraces and breeding lines. Zein electrophoresis was carried out in vertical 10% PAA gels with 8 M urea. The solution for zein extraction contained 6 M urea and 0.01 M dithiothreitol. Results. The present research pursued the following aims: to use zein elecrophoretic patterns (protein markers) in screening waxy maize landraces and lines for their identification and fingerprinting; to determine the biotype composition of landraces and their polymorphism and degree of relationship; and to demonstrate the possibility of applying zein markers in the development of new waxy maize inbred lines by backcrossing the wx1 gene into the initial dent maize line.

Conclusions. Zein electrophoretic patterns showed the uniqueness of each waxy maize accession. All the studied new lines are united by a decreased intensity of most zein pattern components, as well as by the presence of an intensive component 47 which is absent in the pattern of the initial lines of dent maize. Component 47 may serve as a protein marker for identifying waxy maize lines. All landraces were found to be composed of several biotypes (from two to five). Regardless of the intravarietal polymorphism, every variety has specific patterns which facilitate its identification.

1. Kuleshov N. N. Some features of Asian maize // Bulletin on Applied Botany, Genetics and Plant-breeding. 1928, vol. X1X, no. 2, pp. 325-374 [in Russian]

2. Collins G. N. A new type of Indian corn from China // U.S. Dept. Agr. of pl. ind. bull., no. 161, Washington, 1909, pp. 1-30.

3. Vavilov N. I. Origin and geography of cultivated plants. Leningrad: "Nauka", Leningrad branch, 1987, 440 p. [in Russian]

4. Shmaraev G. E., Podolskaya A. P. Genetics of maize // Genetics of cultivated plants: maize, rice, millet. Leningrad, 1988, p. 6-123 [in Russian]

5. Jugenheimer R. W. Maize: improvement of varieties, seed production, use. Moscow : Kolos. 1979, pp. 187-188 [in Russian]

6. Abegg F. A. Effects of waxy and sugary genes on reserves with special reference to modification of the waxy ratio maize. USA // Genetics, 1929, vol. 14, pp. 270-285.

7. Belotserkovskaya V. Maize for artificial blood // Science and life, 2010, no. 1, pp. 30-31 [in Russian]

8. Matveeva G. V. Prospects for the use of grain of waxy maize. SPb.: IV International congress of Grain and BREAD OF RUSSIA. November 11-13 2008. St. Petersburg : FarEXPO, 2008, pp. 54-55 [in Russian]

9. Vakula S. I., Orlovskaya O. A., Khotyleva L. V., Kilchevsky A. V. SSR-локусы, потенциально ассоциированные с высоким содержанием амилопектина в эндосперме зерна кукурузы. Вавиловский журнал генетики и селекции. 2018; 22 (6): 640-647.

10. Konarev V. G., Sidorova V. V., Timofeeva G. I. Electrophoresis of zein as a method of identification, registration and analysis of varieties, lines and hybrids of maize // Agricultural biology, 1990, no. 3, pp. 16-17 [in Russian]

11. Sidorova V. V., Matveeva G. V., Timofeeva G. I. Identification, analysis and registration of maize varieties, lines and hybrids by electrophoresis and isoelectrofocusing of zein / Identification of varieties and registration of the gene pool of cultivated plants for seed proteins / ed. V. G. Konarev // St. Petersburg : RAAS, VIR, 2000, Ch. 2, pp. 73-89 [in Russian]

12. Sidorova V. V., Matveeva G. V., Timofeeva G. I. Analysis and recording of maize lines, varieties and hybrids by method of electrophoresis of zein: Methodical guidelines and catalog of protein formulas // ed. V. G. Konarev. St. Petersburg: RAAS, VIR, 1998, 50 p. [in Russian]

13. Sidorova V. V., Matveeva G. V., Konarev A. V., Kerv Yu. A., Kudryavtsev A. M., Upelniek V. P., Yankovsky N. K. Zein markers in maize genepool analysis and improving modern breeding-genetic program // Agrarnaya Russia, 2012, no. 7, pp. 5-11 [in Russian]

14. Sidorova V. V., Matveeva G. V., Kerv Yu. A., Konarev A. V. Possibilities of using markers of zein in increasing the efficiency of heterotic maize breeding. // Proceedings of applied botany, genetics and selection. 2012, v. 170, pp. 147-57 [in Russian]

15. Matveeva G. V., Sidorova V. V., Kerv Yu. A., Konarev A. V. Identification of old local varieties and breeding lines of waxy corn for spectra of zein // Dostizheniya nauki i tekhniki APK. 2015, vol. 29. no, 7. pp. 27-30 [in Russian]