Crops ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (5): 102-112.doi: 10.16035/j.issn.1001-7283.2025.05.014

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Study on the Mining and Transcriptional Regulation Mechanism of Genes Related to Linoleic Acid Synthesis in Maize

Yang Ke(), Lai Shangkun, Jin Qian, Wang Weijun, Ding Yidong, Liu Xiaofei()   

  1. Suqian Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Suqian 223800, Jiangsu, China
  • Received:2025-04-18 Revised:2025-06-04 Online:2025-10-15 Published:2025-10-21

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Abstract:

Linoleic acid, as an unsaturated fatty acid, is essential for human health. Transcriptome analysis was carried out using self-bred high linoleic acid maize inbred line YM-2 and common maize inbred line Chang 7-2 as materials to explore candidate genes and key pathways related to linoleic acid biosynthesis in maize. The results showed that a total of 6505 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the two comparison groups, of which 3381 were up-regulated and 3124 were down-regulated. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that these DEGs were significantly enriched in metabolic pathways such as linoleic acid metabolism (Zma00591) and fatty acid elongation (Zma00062). Among them, linoleic acid 9S-lipoxygenase (EC:1.13.11.58), linoleic acid 13S-lipoxygenase (EC:1.13.11.12), 3-ketoacyl-CoA synthase (EC:2.3.1.199) and 17β-estradiol 17-dehydrogenase/ very long chain 3-oxoacyl-CoA reductase (EC:1.1.1.62/ 1.1.1.330) were down-regulated, and related candidate genes LOX1, LOX3, LOX6, LOX10, LOX12, TS1, LOC103642039, and LOC103646607 may be directly related to the synthesis of linoleic acid. In order to verify the accuracy of RNA-seq data, we selected four genes with opposite expression patterns in the two materials for qRT-PCR verification, and found that the trend of gene expression was consistent with the transcriptome sequencing results. This study explored the genes and metabolic pathways related to linoleic acid biosynthesis in maize, which provided a reference for further analysis of the molecular regulation mechanism of high linoleic acid in maize, and also laid a foundation for molecular breeding of high oleic acid crops.

Key words: Maize, Linoleic acid, Transcriptome sequencing, Differentially expressed genes, Metabolic pathway

Table 1

Primer sequences for qRT-PCR"

基因Gene 上游引物序列Upstream primer sequence 下游引物序列Downstream primer sequence
LOX3 AGATGCAGGCCGTGTC GGAGTGCTTGGAGAGG
LOX10 AACGAGCACCACAAGGAGG TCGGACGGCAGGTATGACT
TS1 ACGGGAAGAACGAGAT CCGCAGCCAAGCAAAC
LOC103642039 GTCGTGCCTCGCCTGCTC TGATTCCGCCTGTCCGTA

Fig.1

Linoleic acid content and field agronomic traits of YM-2 and C7-2 “**”,“***”and“****”indicate that YM-2 and C7-2 in the same comparison group were significantly different at P < 0.01, P < 0.001, and P < 0.0001 levels, respectively. The same below."

Fig.2

Pearson correlation analysis between samples"

Fig.3

Principal component analysis between samples"

Fig.4

The differentially expressed genes in YM-2 and C7-2"

Fig.5

Differential expression volcano map between samples"

Fig.6

KEGG enrichment analysis of 6505 DEGs"

Fig.7

KEGG enrichment analysis of 3124 down-regulated DEGs"

Fig.8

KEGG pathway of linoleic acid metabolism Blue indicates down-regulated genes, yellow indicates that the corresponding gene contains both up-regulated and down-regulated expressions, and green indicates no significant difference. The same below."

Fig.9

KEGG pathway of fatty acids elongation"

Table 2

Four DEGs selected by qRT-PCR"

基因
Gene		 基因描述
Gene description		 Log2FC q值
q-value		 上调/下调
Up/down regulation		 KEGG通路
KEGG pathway
LOX3 推测为亚油酸9S-脂氧合酶3 -4.4152 3.50E-09 下调 亚油酸代谢
(Zma00591)
LOX10 脂氧合酶2.3，叶绿体 1.0281 9.57E-07 上调
TS1 推测为脂氧合酶5 -2.2305 6.19E-24 下调
LOC103642039 可能为脂氧合酶8，叶绿体 1.2154 9.90E-06 上调

Fig.10

Validation of RNA-seq results by qRT-PCR"

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