Natural Genetic Variation in Lycopene Epsilon Cyclase Tapped for Maize Biofortification
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: Dietary vitamin A deficiency causes eye disease in 40 million children each year and places 140 to 250 million at risk for health disorders. Many children in sub-Saharan Africa subsist on maize-based diets. Maize displays considerable natural variation for carotenoid composition, including vitamin A precursors alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin. Through association analysis, linkage mapping, expression analysis, and mutagenesis, we show that variation at the lycopene epsilon cyclase (lcyE) locus alters flux down alpha-carotene versus beta-carotene branches of the carotenoid pathway. Four natural lcyE polymorphisms explained 58% of the variation in these two branches and a threefold difference in provitamin A compounds. Selection of favorable lcyE alleles with inexpensive molecular markers will now enable developing-country breeders to more effectively produce maize grain with higher provitamin A levels.
Source: Science
Institutions: DuPont (United States), University of North Carolina Wilmington, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Cornell University, Boyce Thompson Institute, The Graduate Center, CUNY, Lehman College, City University of New York, Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz Y Trigo, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2117055393