Plant Genome II Conference
Town & Country Conference Center, San Diego, CA, January, 1994.
PG-II: MAPPING GENES ASSOCIATED WITH HUMAN FLAVOR PREFERENCES IN SWEET
CORN
MAPPING GENES ASSOCIATED WITH HUMAN FLAVOR PREFERENCES IN SWEET
CORN.
Fermin Azanza, Yaakov Tadmor, Torbert Rocheford, Barbara Klein
and John Juvik, 307 Plant and Animal Biotechnology Laboratory,
University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801.
This study was conducted to ascertain the number,
chromosomal location and magnitude of quantitative trait loci
(OTL) associated with human flavor preferences for sweet corn.
RFLP analysis was performed on 102 F3 families derived from a
cross between two inbreds that differed greatly in their eating
quality (W6786sul and IL731 sulsol). A series of 94 genomic
clones distributed throughout the sweet corn genome were used.
F3 sib-pollinated ears were harvested at 20 days after
pollination, frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80'C for
subsequent evaluation. Sensory evaluation of these 102 sibbed F3
families by a trained descriptive panel (21 panelists) was
conducted to determine intensity of attributes associated with
sweet corn eating quality (sweet corn aroma, sweetness,
starchiness, grassiness, crispness, tenderness and juiciness).
Panelists were also asked to evaluate the samples for overall
liking. Single factor analysis of variance revealed significant
OTLs for all the eating quality characteristics (p < 0.01).
Sweet corn aroma, sweetness, starchiness, grassiness, crispness,
tenderness, juiciness and overall liking were significantly
associated with 7, 9, 9, 3, 6, 6, 5 and 5 loci distributed
throughout the maize genome, respectively. Muftiple regression
models consisting from 3 to 5 loci on different chromosomes for
each of the attributes explained from 20 to 60% of the phenotypic
variation. The use of molecular markers in combination with
sensory evaluation will allow for the identification of DNA
markers associated with human flavor preferences. This
information will be used to conduct molecular marker assisted
selection to improve eating quality in sweet corn.
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