The maize leaf lipidome shows multilevel genetic control and high predictive value for agronomic traits

Although the plant lipidome show an enormous level of structural and functional diversity, our knowledge about its genetic control and its connection to whole-plant phenotypes is very limited. Here, we profiled 563 lipid species with UPLC-FT-MS in 289 field-grown inbred lines genotyped with 56,110 SNPs. Genome-wide association study identified 174 associations for 76 lipids explaining up to 31.4% of the genetic variance (P-value 8.4 × 10(-18)). Candidate genes were found for lipid synthesis, breakdown, transfer, and protection against peroxidation. The detected SNP-lipid associations could be grouped into associations with 1) individual lipids, 2) lipids from one biochemical class, and 3) lipids from several classes, suggesting a multilevel genetic control architecture. We further found a strong connection between the lipidome and agronomic traits in field-evaluated hybrid progeny. A cross-validated prediction model yielded correlations of up to 0.78 suggesting that the lipidome accurately predicts agronomic traits relevant in hybrid maize breeding.