Mapping candidate genes for Fusarium ear rot resistance

Fusarium ear rot is one of the most important disease of maize, that is of concerns because Fusarium verticillioides produces the mycotoxins fumonisins. Resistance to Fusarium ear rot is polygenic with nearly complete dominance or overdominance of resistance alleles. The availability of molecular markers associated to resistance genes could be a successful strategy to select lines resistant to F. verticillioides. Mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) provides a powerful method to understand the genetic relationships between correlated traits. We attempt to use a genetical-genomics strategy to localize candidate genes for resistance to F. verticillioides on the high density molecular map.