About the Authors

Ramesh Buyyarapu

rbuyyarapu@dow.com

Current address: Trait Genetics & Technologies, Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Affiliation Center for Molecular Biology, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University, Normal, Alabama, United States of America

Ramesh V. Kantety

Affiliation Center for Molecular Biology, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University, Normal, Alabama, United States of America

John Z. Yu

Affiliation United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center, Crop Germplasm Research Unit, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Zhanyou Xu

Affiliation United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center, Crop Germplasm Research Unit, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Russell J. Kohel

Affiliation United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center, Crop Germplasm Research Unit, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Richard G. Percy

Affiliation United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center, Crop Germplasm Research Unit, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Simone Macmil

Affiliation Gene Structure and Function Laboratory, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Graham B. Wiley

Affiliation Arthritis & Immunology Department, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States of America

Bruce A. Roe

Affiliation Advanced Center for Genome Technology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, United States of America

Govind C. Sharma

Affiliation Center for Molecular Biology, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University, Normal, Alabama, United States of America

Competing Interests

RB’s current affiliation to the company of Trait Genetics & Technologies, Dow AgroSciences, does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RVK JZY. Performed the experiments: RB ZX SM GBW. Analyzed the data: RB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: RVK RB JZY RJK BAR. Wrote the manuscript: RB. Revised the manuscript: RB RVK JZY RGP BAR GCS. Advised the research: RVK JZY RGP BAR GCS.