Micro-endosperm high oil maize RNA-seq

Micro-endosperm super-high oil maize is featured with tiny endosperm and high oil content in grain. To identify the genes controlling the micro-endosperm trait, three different F2 populations were generated by crossing the micro-endosperm high oil inbred line GY with other three normal corn inbred lines, Jing724, B73, and Jing92, respectively, followed by selfing.F2 seeds produced within each ear of F1 plants can be divided into 3 classes, including wild type(WT) normal seeds, translucent micro-endosperm seeds, and shrunken micro-endosperm seeds and the ratio of them is 9:4:3, indicating that the micro-endosperm trait was controlled by two independent recessive genes and the translucent micro-endosperm gene was epistatic to the shrunken micro-endosperm gene. Total RNAs of the shrunken micro-endosperm pool and the mixed pool (normal and shrunken micro-endosperm seedlings) from each of three independent F2 populations were used to perform BSR-seq, while the RNAs of the shrunken micro-endosperm pool and the normal endosperm pool from the B73/GY F2 population were used.