Identification of opaque-2 genotypes in segregating populations of Quality Protein Maize by analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms.

Quality Protein Maize (QPM) is a name given to genetically modified opaque-2 maize with hard endosperm. The opaque-2 mutation conditions a reduction in the amount of zein seed storage protein; zeins are deficient in the essential amino acids lysine and tryptophan, and mutant seed have a higher nutritional value. To utilize the potential of opaque-2 maize, elite inbreds can be converted to o2/o2 forms and subsequently to hard endosperm opaque-2. Since opaque-2 is recessive and endosperm specific, conventional backcross procedures to convert elite inbreds to opaque-2 forms are inefficient. To alleviate this problem, a marker-assisted selection procedure was developed for the Texas A&M University Quality Protein Maize breeding program. Hybridization of an O2 cDNA probe to blots of DNA from plants carrying O2 and o2 alleles showed that restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) exist between the W64A o2 allele and O2 alleles of Mo17 and TX5855 inbred lines. To identify the opaque2 genotypes in segregating populations, an RFLP marker assay combining the O2 cDNA probe and HindIII-digestion of genomic DNA was developed. The effectiveness of the O2 RFLP marker assay was tested under field conditions using F2 and backcross populations of several hard endosperm opaque-2 lines. A comparison of the genotypes identified by RFLP analysis with the seed phenotypes of the next generation indicated that this procedure is accurate and can be used for identifying O2/O2, O2/o2, and o2/o2 genotypes of individual juvenile plants in breeding populations.