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The maize ( Zea mays ) stigma, which is commonly known as silk, is indispensable for reproduction and thus for grain yield. Here, we isolated a spontaneous mutant  sk-A7110 , which completely lacks silk; scanning electron microscopy showed that the  sk-A7110  pistils degenerated during late floret differentiation. Genetic analysis confirmed that this trait was controlled by a recessive nuclear gene and  sk-A7110  was mapped to a 74.13-kb region on chromosome 2 between the simple sequence repeat markers  LA714  and  L277 . Sequence analysis of candidate genes in this interval identified a single-nucleotide insertion at position 569 downstream of the transcriptional start site in  Zm00001d002970 , which encodes a UDP-glycosyltransferase; this insertion produces a frameshift and premature translational termination. RNA-sequencing analysis of young ears identified 258 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between  sk-A7110  and the wild type (WT), including 119 up- and 139 down-regulated genes. Interestingly, most DEGs related to jasmonic acid (JA) synthesis were up-regulated in the mutant compared to WT. Consistent with this, the JA and JA-Isoleucine (JA-Ile) contents were significantly higher in  sk-A7110  ears than in WT. At the same time, RNA-sequencing analysis of tassels showed that  sk-A7110  could reduce the number of tassel branches in maize by down-regulating the expression of  UB2  and  UB3  genes. Our identification of the  sk-A7110  mutant and the responsible gene will facilitate further studies on female infertility research or maize breeding.

Mapping and Functional Analysis of a Maize Silkless Mutant sk-A7110