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2025 Vol.52, Issue 4 Preview Page

Plant & Forest

Chloroplast genome diversity and heteroplasmy in five Korean maize (Zea mays L.) landraces
Jin Seong Park1
,
Seongmin Hong1
,
Jiyun Go1
,
Myeong-Geon Seok1
,
Hobin Lee1
,
Gibum Yi1*
1Department of Bio-Environmental Chemistry, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea
*Corresponding Author
1 December 2025. pp. 563-573
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Abstract

Chloroplast genomes (cpGenomes) provide valuable insights into plant evolution, domestication, local adaptation and genetic diversity. In this study, we sequenced and assembled the complete cpGenomes of five Korean maize (Zea mays L.) landraces. The assembled cpGenomes ranged from 140,450 to 140,453 bp and exhibited the typical quadripartite structure, comprising large single-copy (LSC), small single-copy (SSC), and inverted repeat (IR) regions. Comparative analysis with the publicly available cpGenomes including B73 revealed high conservation across cpGenome while including several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions and deletions. Phylogenetic analysis clustered the landrace cpGenomes close to Zhengdan958, reflecting their similar maternal lineages. In addition, variant allele frequency (VAF) analysis revealed varying levels of chloroplast heteroplasmy among landraces, potentially reflecting incomplete sorting of ancestral plastid variants in some accessions. These findings expand the current understanding of cpGenome diversity in maize landraces and provide valuable genomic resources for future studies on maize evolution, adaptation, and breeding.

Keywords
chloroplast genome assembly
cpGenome
maize landrace
phylogenetic analysis
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Information
  • Publisher :Institute of Agricultural Science, Chungnam National University
  • Publisher(Ko) :충남대학교 농업과학연구소
  • Journal Title :Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
  • Journal Title(Ko) :농업과학연구
  • Volume : 52
  • No :4
  • Pages :563-573
  • Received Date : 2025-08-01
  • Revised Date : 2025-09-24
  • Accepted Date : 2025-10-01
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.7744/kjoas.520413
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