The Maize ATLAS project: Implementation of an Experimental Framework for Studying Adaptation

The response to environmental variables such as day length and temperature has limited the adaptation and use of ‘exotic’ sources of maize for N. American production.  The USDA-NIFA Maize ATLAS (Adaptation Through Latitudinal Artificial Selection) project aims to: 1) phenotypically, genetically, and ecologically characterize genomic loci limiting the adaptation of tropical maize to temperate environments to enhance breeding speed and progress; 2) increase knowledge about the genetic basis of response to artificial selection that is fundamental to plant breeding.  We are developing new germplasm and genomic resources, methods for crop improvement, and statistical approaches to dissecting genetic architectures underlying environmental adaptation and response to selection.  Here, we present studies including the analysis of a multi-environment trail conducted across a latitudinal transect (from WI to PR) examining the genetic response to a decade of selection for adaptation, a search for genomic loci underlying broad adaptation, and the development of near-isogenic line allelic series’ to deepen our understanding of photoperiod sensitive genomic loci.