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Research Article

Expression Profiling of Sugar-Starch Pathway Genes in Waxy Maize with Contrasting Sucrose Content
Ki-Beom Kim1
,
Mayur Mukut Murlidhar Sharma2
,
Yeri Park3
,
Joeng-Heon Han4
,
Si-Hwan Ryu4
,
Kyong-Cheul Park5*
,
Nam-il Park6
1M.S. Course, Department of Agriculture and Life Industry, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea
2Ph.D. Course, Department of Agriculture and Life Industry, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea
3Ph.D. Course, Department of Plant Science, Kangwon National University, Gangneung 25457, Korea
4Researcher, Maize Research Institute, Gangwon state Agricultural Research and Extension Services, Hongcheon 25160, Korea
5Professor, Department of Agriculture and Life Industry, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea
6Professor, Department of Plant Science, Kangwon National University, Gangneung 25457, Korea
*Corresponding Author
31 March 2026. pp. 43-58
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Abstract

Waxy maize (Zea mays L.) is valued for its amylopectin-rich sticky texture, but kernels typically accumulate low levels of soluble sugars compared with sweet corn. To identify gene-expression features associated with naturally higher sweetness in waxy backgrounds, we quantified soluble sugars in developing kernels and profiled transcription of key sucrose-starch pathway genes. Soluble sugars (sucrose, glucose, and fructose) were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) from kernels harvested 21 days after pollination (DAP) from 58 waxy inbred lines classified into kernel-color groups (BS, CS, YS, RS, and S), with sweet-corn cultivars included as high-sugar references. Within waxy groups, YS and RS consistently showed higher mean sucrose than BS lines across years, while RS also maintained relatively higher glucose and fructose. For expression analysis, 20 contrasting genotypes (two low- and two high-sucrose lines per group) were selected and transcript abundance of 25 pathway genes was measured by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in endosperm and embryo tissues. Most genes showed higher transcript abundance in endosperm than embryo. Among functional gene categories, starch branching enzyme genes exhibited the clearest association with sucrose differences: endosperm expression of starch branching enzyme I (SBEI) increased in high-sucrose cultivars across both years, whereas SBEIIa (amylose extender1) and SBEIIb displayed group-dependent and often complementary patterns. These results highlight natural variation in downstream starch-assembly genes as a plausible lever to fine-tune sugar retention in waxy kernels, providing candidate targets and germplasm resources for breeding moderately sweeter waxy maize without the severe starch penalties of classical sweet-corn mutants.

Keywords
High-performance liquid chromatography
Quantitative RT-PCR
Soluble sugars
Starch branching enzymes
Waxy maize
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Information
  • Publisher :Agriculture and Life Sciences Research Institute, Kangwon National University
  • Publisher(Ko) :None
  • Journal Title :Journal of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences
  • Volume : 38
  • No :1
  • Pages :43-58
  • Received Date : 2026-01-08
  • Revised Date : 2026-01-21
  • Accepted Date : 2026-01-21
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.22698/jales.20260004
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