Molecular Profiling for Identification of Zea mays L. True Hybrids

Background: Zea mays (L.), commonly known as maize or corn, is a diploid (2n= 2x= 20) grain crop which belongs to the family Poaceae. It is important to protect and prevent unauthorized commercial usage of hybrids at large scale, which can be best done through molecular profiling. The present study was operated with the purpose to obtain specific simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers which can identify maize hybrids from their parental lines. Methods: For this work, seven maize hybrids viz. HM 5, HM 8, HM 9, HM 10, HM 11, HM 12 and HM 13 along with their ten respective parents were used. A total of 45 SSR primers, well distributed on all the 10 chromosomes of maize were used for polymerase chain reaction amplification. Result: Molecular study using SSRs resulted in 12 polymorphic and 24 monomorphic markers. Three SSR primers viz. pumc2246, pumc1020 and pumc1040 could clearly distinguish different hybrids and their parents. The study will be useful in detecting unwanted seed mixing with the hybrid seeds.