Male sterility is widely utilized for hybrid seed production. In this study, two new found male sterile mutants SauS4 and SauS5 were obtained from space flighted seeds of maize inbred line RP125. Then, genetic analysis, molecular markers identification, and cytological observation were conducted to confirm their male sterile types. For genetic analysis, the above two male sterile mutants were continuously backcrossed with two maize inbred line 18Hong and RP125, and four stable male sterile lines SauS4(18Hong), SauS5(18Hong), SauS4(RP125), SauS5(RP125) were generated by six-generation backcross. Restoring and maintaining relationship analysis showed that both Hui313 and Zifeng1 didn’t rescue the male sterility SauS4(18Hong) and SauS5(18Hong). Using CMS mitochondria-specific primers for PCR detection suggested that only a 440 bp band unique to CMS-T type was amplified in SauS4(18Hong), SauS5(18Hong), SauS4(RP125), and SauS5(RP125). Sequencing results showed that these bands sequences were identical in DNA level which compared with T-urf13. Cytological observations showed that the main abortion stages of SauS4 and SauS5 were at the middle stage of uninucleate microspores under the two nuclear backgrounds of 18Hong and RP125, exhibiting the characteristics of sporophyte sterility. All the above results pointed out the two male sterile mutants SauS4 and SauS5 belonged to the CMS-T type. Interestingly, some mitochondrial genome difference between SauS4(RP125) and SauS5(RP125) were revealed by AFLP analysis.
Although the root system is indispensable for absorption of nutrients and water, it is poorly studied in maize owing to the difficulties of direct measurement of roots. Here, 103 maize lines were used to compare root architectures under well-watered and water-stressed conditions. Significant genetic variation, with medium to high heritability and significant correlations, was observed for root traits. Total root length (TRL) and total root surface area (TSA) had high phenotypical diversity, and TRL was positively correlated with TSA, root volume, and root forks. The first two principal components explained 94.01% and 91.15% of total root variation in well-watered and water-stressed conditions, respectively. Thus, TRL and TSA, major contributors to root variation, can be used as favorable selection criteria at the seedling stage. We found that stiff stalk and non-stiff stalk groups (temperate backgrounds) showed relatively higher mean values for root morphological diversity than the TST group (tropical/subtropical background). Of the tested lines, 7, 42, 45, and 9 were classified as drought sensitive, moderately sensitive, moderately drought tolerant, and highly drought tolerant, respectively. Seven of the 9 extremely drought tolerant lines were from the TST group, suggesting that TST germplasms harbor valuable genetic resources for drought tolerance that could be used in breeding to improve abiotic stress tolerance in maize. 相似文献