The maize enr system of r1 haplotype-specific aleurone color enhancement factors

Abstract

We describe a family of 3 dominant r1 haplotype-specific enhancers of aleurone color in Zea mays. Stable alleles of the 3 enhancement of r1 loci (enr1, enr2, and enr3) intensify aleurone color conferred by certain pale and near-colorless r1 haplotypes. In addition, unstable alleles of enr1 act on the same set of r1 haplotypes, producing spotted kernels. Components of this instability cross react with the Fcu system of instability. Two of the enr loci are linked with one another but none of the 3 are linked with r1. The r1 haplotypes affected by enr alleles overlap those affected by the inr family of r1 haplotype-specific inhibitors of aleurone color, suggesting a possible interaction.