Characterization and positional cloning of brevis plant1 (bv1) a semi dwarf mutant of maize (Zea mays L.)

We characterized and fine mapped a semi dwarf mutant of maize. An EMS induced mutation on the B73 maize inbred background caused reduced internode length resulting in reduced plant height. Despite the mutant plants being shorter than their wild type counterparts, the number of leaves developed at maturity and the date of flowering remained unaltered relative to the B73 inbred and wild type plants. We fine mapped the mutation to a region of maize chromosome 5 under 100kb with four identified genes on it. Mutations found in one of those four genes, and orthology to a rice gene causing dwarfism strongly suggests that bv1 is an inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase that plays a role in maize internode elongation.