Pinpointing the Functional Switches in the Maize Genome: Novel Method Maps Regulatory DNA to Explain Complex Trait Heritability
Jülich, Germany – August 11, 2025 – Researchers from the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences (IBG-2: Plant Sciences & IBG-4: Bioinformatics) at Forschungszentrum Jülich have contributed to a major international study that deciphers how genetic variation controls complex traits in maize. The work, published today in Nature Genetics, introduces a powerful new method to pinpoint functional genetic variants that influence traits like plant height, flowering time, and drought resistance. This breakthrough paves the way for more efficient and targeted breeding of crops resilient to environmental change, contributing to global food security.
The study, led by an international consortium, developed a "pan-cistrome" map for the maize leaf. This comprehensive map details the binding sites of transcription factors — proteins that regulate gene activity — across 25 different maize hybrids. The team, including Dr. Fabio Fiorani from IBG-2 and Dr. Sebastian Beier from IBG-4, identified over 200,000 genetic variants, termed "binding quantitative trait loci" (bQTLs), that are linked to changes in how these regulatory proteins bind to DNA.
A key finding of the research is that these bQTLs are not randomly scattered but are highly predictive of an organism's phenotypic traits. In fact, the study demonstrates that this regulatory variation can explain the majority of heritable variation for approximately 72% of the 143 different maize phenotypes analyzed. This provides an unprecedentedly clear link between specific genetic sequences and their functional impact on the plant.
The database and methods generated by this project will serve as a vital resource for plant scientists, breeders, and the agricultural industry worldwide. By making functional genetic variation accessible on a large scale, this work will help drive the development of more productive and sustainable crops to meet the challenges of a changing world.
The original publication: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-025-02246-7