Introgression of low phytic acid locus (lpa2-2) into an elite Maize (Zea mays L.) inbred through marker assisted backcross breeding

Abstract Phytic Acid (PA) in maize kernel is an anti-nutritional factor; it chelates mineral cations in human gut and causes mineral deficiency in humans. Therefore, development of low-PA maize is required. Here, we have transferred the low-PA locus (i.e., lpa2-2 allele that confers low-PA trait) by crossing low-PA line "EC 659418" (donor line) with an elite inbred "UMI 285" (recipient line) using Marker Assisted Backcross Breeding (MABB). In our MABB program, for "foreground selection" (i.e., screening for plants with introgressed lpa2-2 locus) small sequence repeat (SSR) marker "umc2230" was used, and for "background selection" (i.e., screening for introgressed lines whose genetic background are similar to that of the recurrent parent) 47 SSR markers were used. As a result, we have developed four lines with both reduced-PA trait similar to that of donor parent, and agronomical traits (i.e., days to 50% tasseling, days to 50% silking, plant height, ear height, 100 seed weight, grain yield per plant, germination and seed vigor) similar to that of the recurrent parent