The MexMAGIC population reveals the genetic architecture of traits exhibiting clinal variation in Mexican native maize
Defining the genetic basis of local adaptation is a key goal of evolutionary biology and crop improvement. Theory predicts that when selective pressures follow differences in the environment, a cline will be established. Clines can be exploited to uncover adaptive variation by association of alleles with the environment. However, monotonic phenotypic change over a cline is not necessarily mirrored in the behavior of genetic variants and population structure can further complicate analysis. To study genetic and phenotypic variation across the environment, we developed a multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population using eight Mexican native maize (Zea mays L. ssp. mays) varieties sourced from distinct agroecological zones. We evaluated the population in a common garden in Mexico and mapped tassel branching and flowering time, two traits that exhibit clinal variation. Variation in tassel branching was dominated by a single QTL with allele effects aligning to a negative elevational cline. By contrast, allele effects associated with 11 identified flowering time QTL were not consistently correlated with any one source environmental factor. Our observations support the prediction that genotype-environment association will be strongest under simple genetic architecture, although, even then, analysis in native populations may be confounded by population structure.
Authors
- C. Stewart Gillmor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1009-2167)
- G Cíntora-Martínez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7646-5977)
- Rubén Rellán‐Álvarez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6843-3716)
- Kevin Fengler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0010-2093)
- M. Nancy Salazar‐Vidal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4894-9795)
- Ruairidh J. H. Sawers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8945-3078)
- Ana Laura Alonso‐Nieves (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7312-4897)
- Jagdeep Singh Sidhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4672-3701)
- J. Vladimir Torres‐Rodríguez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6056-3452)
- Jessica Carcaño-Macias (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4950-0642)
- Forrest Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2965-2494)
- Daniel E. Runcie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3008-9312)
- M. Rosario Ramírez‐Flores (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2561-0086)
- Jeffrey Ross‐Ibarra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1656-4954)
- Sergio Pérez-Limón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1893-4325)
- Víctor Llaca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4822-2924)
- Peng Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1670-8428)
- Oliver HS Paulson
- Melanie Grace Perryman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1046-0453)
Institutions
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Research Triangle Park Foundation (US)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- Corteva (United States) (US)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (MX)
- Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro (MX)
- University of Missouri (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- New Phytologist
- Published
- 2026-09-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.71501
- Primary Topic
- Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00