Title of project: Functional Genomics of Drought Tolerance in Maize
Project funding: Externally funded (ICAR)
Total approved cost of the project: Rs. 36.90 Lakhs

Objective:

• To identify contrasting maize inbred lines in terms of drought tolerance
• To develop drought tolerant mapping population in maize

Project team: Ishwar Singh, Chikkappa, G K and Pranjal Yadava

Major achievements:

• Extensive screening of 186 uniform and established Indian maize inbred lines was carried out in field (by withdrawal of irrigation at flowering stage) as well as under managed drought stress (rain-out-shelter) conditions and in this screen two lines viz. HKI-335 and LM-17 were identified as highly tolerant to drought, while MGUD-22 and HKI-1015-wg8 were found to be highly drought susceptible lines.
• Two Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs) mapping populations derived by crossing these contrasting Indian maize inbred lines [HKI 335 (highly tolerant) x MGUD 22 (highly susceptible)] and [LM 17 (highly tolerant) x HKI 1015-wg8 (highly susceptible)], have been developed and maintained through single seed descent (SSD) method.
• Molecular profiling of RILs population [HKI 335 (DT) X MGUD 22 (DS)] at F9 stage was done using 51 SSR markers.
• Expression of drought specific target genes of miR156; miR164; miR169; miR474; miR397; miR398; miR399; miR529; miR827; miR1432; miR408; miR319 were found to be significantly different in the two contrasting lines (HKI-335 and MGUD-22) under drought stress conditions.
• Sequence of five antioxidant genes from two contrasting maize inbred lines [HKI 335 (highly tolerant) x MGUD 22 (highly susceptible)] in terms of drought tolerance. was registered with NCBI Genank with accession numbers viz., KR105967, KR136339, KR136340, KR136341 and KR136342.