Breeding Maize (Zea mays L.) to Improve Protein Quality in the Endosperm: A Review

Abstract

Providing maize cultivars with an improved amino acid profile, for communities that rely heavily on maize as the main staple food is one of the main target in the modern maize breeding program worldwide. After efforts have been made by many researchers, several quality protein maize (QPM) populations and pools possessing different ecological adaptation, maturity, grain color, and texture were developed. Consumption of QPM instead of conventional maize (CM) leads to a 12% increase in the rate of growth in weight and a 9% increase in the rate of growth in height in infants and young children with mild to moderate under nutrition from populations in which maize is a significant part of the diet. The development of high lysine/tryptophan maize involves manipulating three distinct genetic systems: (1) The simple recessive allele of the opaque-2 gene, (2) Modifiers/enhancers of the o2o2-containing endosperm to confer higher lysine and tryptophan and (3) Genes that modify the opaque-2-induced soft endosperm to hard endosperm. An appropriate application of marker assisted selection will greatly enhance the efficiency of selection for improvement of grain protein in maize besides cutting down at cost and time.

Keywords: Gene, Lysine, Tryptophan, Opaque, Quality protein maize

DOI: 10.7176/ALST/93-01

Publication date: April 30^th 2022