Fig. 1: Phenotypes of maize Lna1.

a Leaves located above the ear provide the main source of carbohydrates for grain filling in maize. The number of leaves above the ear increased during maize domestication, diversification, and improvement. Teosinte typically grows only one to two leaves above the ear, whereas maize landraces have two to three leaves, and maize inbred lines often have five to six leaves above the ear. The maize source was greatly increased during maize domestication and improvement. b Leaf number above the primary ear in Popcorn (left) and MS71 (right). Popcorn generally has 3–4 leaves above the ear, whereas MS71 often has 5–6 leaves above the ear. c Leaf number above the ear in NIL-Popcorn (left) and NIL-MS71 (right). Scale bar, 30 cm. Comparisons of the leaf number above the ear (d), total leaf number (e), leaf number below the ear (f), flowering time (g), plant height (h) and ear height (i) between NIL-Popcorn and NIL-MS71. j QTL mapping identified 6 QTLs for leaf number above the ear in an F₂ population derived from a cross between the maize landrace, Popcorn, and the maize inbred line MS71. Among these QTLs, only a major one, Lna1, on chromosome 4, harbors a genetic effect from the Popcorn allele that is greater than that of MS71. The arrows represent leaves. The figure shows the sample size (n) and P values for each group. P values were calculated using two-tailed Student’s t tests; the data are presented as the means ± SD. Boxplots show the mean (horizontal line), the 25th and 75th percentiles (colored box), and the minimum and maximum percentiles (whiskers). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.