ArticlePloS one2011
An 11-bp insertion in Zea mays fatb reduces the palmitic acid content of fatty acids in maize grain.
Article in PloS one, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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30 citing papers in PubMed, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Natural variation inScience advances · 2026Article
- Metabolic engineering of cereal lipids: from omega-3 fatty acids to wax esters and pheromones.Advanced biotechnology · 2026Review
- Molecular breeding approaches for the improvement of oil content and fatty acid composition in exotic-derived maize germplasm.The New phytologist · 2025Article
- Meta-QTL analysis for mining key genes associated with seed oil content in maize.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- QTL-based dissection of three key quality attributes in maize using double haploid populations.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Article
- Genes and genetics belong to maize haploid induction.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Review
- Genetic dissection of QTLs for oil content in four maize DH populations.Frontiers in plant science · 2023Article
- Allelic Variation inFrontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
- Genetic basis of maize kernel oil-related traits revealed by high-density SNP markers in a recombinant inbred line population.BMC plant biology · 2021Article
- The utility of metabolomics as a tool to inform maize biology.Plant communications · 2021Review
- CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Knockout ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
- The Past, Present, and Future of Maize Improvement: Domestication, Genomics, and Functional Genomic Routes toward Crop Enhancement.Plant communications · 2020Review
- QTLs position of some important ornamental traits in recently developed OO lily population.Physiology and molecular biology of plants : an international journal of functional plant biology · 2019Article
- Transcriptome analysis identifies genes related to the waxy coating on blueberry fruit in two northern-adapted rabbiteye breeding populations.BMC plant biology · 2019Article
- Leveraging GWAS data to identify metabolic pathways and networks involved in maize lipid biosynthesis.The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · 2019Article
- Association Analysis and Identification of ZmHKT1;5 Variation With Salt-Stress Tolerance.Frontiers in plant science · 2018Article
- New Insights Into Sunflower (Frontiers in plant science · 2018Article
- Genome-wide trait-trait dynamics correlation study dissects the gene regulation pattern in maize kernels.BMC plant biology · 2017Article
- Natural variations in stearoyl-acp desaturase genes affect the conversion of stearic to oleic acid in maize kernel.TAG. Theoretical and applied genetics. Theoretische und angewandte Genetik · 2017Article
- Fine-mapping and cross-validation of QTLs linked to fatty acid composition in multiple independent interspecific crosses of oil palm.BMC genomics · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids in maize kernels strongly impacts human and livestock health, but is a complex trait that is difficult to select based on phenotype. Map-based cloning of quantitative trait loci (QTL) is a powerful but time-consuming method for the dissection of complex traits. Here, we combine linkage and association analyses to fine map QTL-Pal9, a QTL influencing levels of palmitic acid, an important class of saturated fatty acid. QTL-Pal9 was mapped to a 90-kb region, in which we identified a candidate gene, Zea mays fatb (Zmfatb), which encodes acyl-ACP thioesterase. An 11-bp insertion in the last exon of Zmfatb decreases palmitic acid content and concentration, leading to an optimization of the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids while having no effect on total oil content. We used three-dimensional structure analysis to explain the functional mechanism of the ZmFATB protein and confirmed the proposed model in vitro and in vivo. We measured the genetic effect of the functional site in 15 different genetic backgrounds and found a maximum change of 4.57 mg/g palmitic acid content, which accounts for ∼20-60% of the variation in the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids. A PCR-based marker for QTL-Pal9 was developed for marker-assisted selection of nutritionally healthier maize lines. The method presented here provides a new, efficient way to clone QTL, and the cloned palmitic acid QTL sheds lights on the genetic mechanism of oil biosynthesis and targeted maize molecular breeding.
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