The effect of artificial selection on phenotypic plasticity in maize

Authors

• Joseph L. Gage, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Diego Jarquin, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Cinta Romay, Cornell University
• Aaron Lorenz, University of MinnesotaFollow
• Edward S. Buckler, Cornell University
• Shawn Kaeppler, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Naser Alkhalifah, Iowa State University
• Martin Bohn, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Darwin A. Campbell, Iowa State UniversityFollow
• Jode Edwards, USDA, Agricultural Research Service
• David Ertl, Iowa Corn Promotion Board
• Sherry Flint-Garcia, USDA, Agricultural Research Service
• Jack Gardiner, University of Missouri-Columbia
• Byron Good, University of Guelph
• Candice N. Hirsch, University of Minnesota
• Jim Holland, USDA, Agricultural Research Service
• David C. Hooker, University of Guelph-Ridgetown
• Joseph Knoll, USDA, Agricultural Research Service
• Judith Kolkman, Cornell University
• Greg Kruger, West Central Research and Extension Center, University of Nebraska, North Platte, NEFollow
• Nick Lauter, USDA, Agricultural Research Service
• Carolyn J. Lawrence-Dill, Iowa State University
• Elizabeth Lee, University of Guelph
• Jonathan Lynch, Penn State UniversityFollow
• Seth C. Murray, Texas A&M University
• Rebecca Nelson, Cornell University
• Jane Petzoldt, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Torbert Rocheford, Purdue University
• James C. Schnable, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Patrick S. Schnable, Iowa State UniversityFollow
• Brian Scully, USDA, Agricultural Research Service
• Margaret Smith, Cornell University
• Nathan M. Springer, University of Minnesota
• Srikant Srinivasan, Indian Institute of Technology
• Renee Walton, Iowa State University
• Teclemariam Weldekidan, University of Delaware
• Randall J. Wisser, University of Delaware
• Wenwei Xu, Texas A&M University
• Jianming Yu, Iowa State University
• Natalia de Leon, University of Wisconsin-MadisonFollow

ORCID IDs

0000-0001-5946-4414

0000-0001-9309-1586

0000-0002-3100-371X

0000-0003-2364-6229

0000-0002-4341-9675

0000-0002-7265-9790

0000-0001-9169-5204

0000-0001-5326-3099

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2017

Citation

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | 8: 1348

Comments

© The Author(s) 2017

Open access

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01450-2

Abstract

Remarkable productivity has been achieved in crop species through artificial selection and adaptation to modern agronomic practices. Whether intensive selection has changed the ability of improved cultivars to maintain high productivity across variable environments is unknown. Understanding the genetic control of phenotypic plasticity and genotype by environment (G × E) interaction will enhance crop performance predictions across diverse environments. Here we use data generated from the Genomes to Fields (G2F) Maize G × E project to assess the effect of selection on G × E variation and characterize polymorphisms associated with plasticity. Genomic regions putatively selected during modern temperate maize breeding explain less variability for yield G × E than unselected regions, indicating that improvement by breeding may have reduced G × E of modern temperate cultivars. Trends in genomic position of variants associated with stability reveal fewer genic associations and enrichment of variants 0–5000 base pairs upstream of genes, hypothetically due to control of plasticity by short-range regulatory elements.