Abstract: The major goal of  maize breeding  is to develop high yielding hybrids for various agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions. The leaf angle plays an important role in maize plant architecture. Understanding the formation of leaf angle, gene cloning and molecular mechanism controlling leaf angles are essential for the development of maize hybrids with high-yielding and tolerance to high density. This article summarized the progress on morphological formation, genetic basis, regulatory mechanism, and QTL mapping and gene cloning of the leaf angle in maize. The unexplained genetic and biochemical bases were clarified and some suggestions for the investigation in genetics and molecular regulation mechanism of leaf angle of maize in the future were provided, which were useful for the development of hybrids with tolerance to high density via marker-assisted selection to improve the yield potential in maize breeding program.

Key words: Zea mays L., leaf angle, morphology formation of plant type, regulatory mechanism, QTL mapping

摘要： 培育高产品种是玉米育种的主要目标之一，而叶夹角是株型选择进而提高产量的重要指标，对叶夹角的形成及相关基因的克隆和分子机理解析是开展耐密高产玉米品种选育的基础。从叶夹角对玉米生长发育的影响，叶夹角的形态建成、遗传基础、分子调控机制及QTL定位和基因克隆等方面归纳了国内外对玉米叶夹角的遗传与分子调控研究进展，总结现有研究存在的问题，初步提出未来玉米叶夹角的主要研究方向，为利用分子标记辅助选择培育耐密型品种，提高玉米产量潜力提供信息参考。

关键词: 玉米, 叶夹角, 形态建成, 调控机制, QTL定位