Detection of Consensus Genomic Region of QTLs Relevant to Drought-Tolerance in Maize by QTL Meta-Analysis and Bioinformatics Approach

Mapping consensus genomic regions for drought-tolerance is of great importance in molecular breeding of maize (Zea mays L.). This study aimed to integrate published quantitative trait loci (QTLs) relevant to drought tolerance under water stress that were identified in different experiments. Based on the high-density linkage map of IBM2 2008 Neighbors, a total of 79 Meta-QTLs (MQTLs) were screened out through the methods of “overview” and meta-analysis, of which 43 (54.4%) contained information of genes conferring drought tolerance according to bioinformatic analysis. By integrating the genetic map and the physical map of maize via Genome Brower in maize genome database (http://www.maizegdb.org/), the physical map distance of MQTLs was estimated and the function of these candidate drought tolerance-related genomic regions was analyzed based on sequence information from the maize sequence database (http://www.maizesequence.org/). The results showed that these regions contained abundant sequences of transcription factors such as MYB, bZIP and DREB, and a number of functional genes of LEA family.