Maize grain yield can be greatly reduced when flowering time coincides with drought conditions, which delays silking and consequently increases the anthesis-silking interval. Although the genetic basis of delayed flowering time under water-stressed conditions has been elucidated in maize-maize populations, little is known in this regard about maize-teosinte populations. Here, 16 quantitative trait loci (QTL) for three flowering-time traits, namely days to anthesis, days to silk, and the anthesis-silking interval, were identified in a maize-teosinte introgression population under well-watered and water-stressed conditions; these QTL explained 3.98–32.61% of phenotypic variations. Six of these QTL were considered to be sensitive to drought stress, and the effect of any individual QTL was small, indicating the complex genetic nature of drought resistance in maize. To resolve which genes underlie the six QTL, 11 candidate genes were identified via colocalization analysis of known associations with flowering-time-related drought traits. Among the 11 candidate genes, five were found to be differentially expressed in response to drought stress or under selection during maize domestication, and thus represented the most likely candidates underlying the drought-sensitive QTL. The results lay a foundation for further studies of the genetic mechanisms of drought resistance and provide valuable information for improving drought resistance during maize breeding.

当开花期恰逢干旱时，玉米籽粒产量会大大降低，从而延迟吐丝，从而增加花期和吐丝间隔。尽管在玉米-玉米群体中，在缺水条件下开花时间延迟的遗传基础已被阐明，但在这方面，人们对玉米-类蜀黍群体知之甚少。在这里，在水分充足和水分胁迫条件下的玉米-类蜀黍渗入群体中鉴定了三个开花时间性状的 16 个数量性状基因座（QTL），即开花天数、吐丝天数和开花-吐丝间隔。 ; 这些QTL解释了3.98-32.61%的表型变异。其中6个QTL被认为对干旱胁迫敏感，并且任何单个QTL的影响都很小，表明玉米抗旱性的复杂遗传性质。为了确定 6 个 QTL 背后的基因，通过对与开花时间相关的干旱性状的已知关联进行共定位分析，鉴定了 11 个候选基因。在 11 个候选基因中，有 5 个被发现在干旱胁迫或玉米驯化过程中的选择中存在差异表达，因此代表了最有可能的干旱敏感 QTL 候选基因。该结果为进一步研究抗旱遗传机制奠定了基础，为提高玉米育种抗旱能力提供了有价值的信息。