independent Inheritance of Genes for Dhurrin and Leucoanthocyanidin in a Sorghum Cross

Authors

• Francis A. Haskins, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Herman J. Gorz, United States Department of Agriculture

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

9-1988

Comments

Published in Crop Science (September-October 1988) 28(5): 864-865.

Abstract

Flag leaves of KS8 sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] are low in dhurrin (p-hydroxy-(S)-mandelonitrile-β-D-glucoside] content and thus in hydrocyanic acid potential (HCN-p), and they contain little (if any) leucoanthocyanidin (LAC). Comparable leaves of 'Colman' sorghum are intermediate in HCN-p and high in LAC. This study was conducted to investigate the inheritance of HCN-p and LAC in crosses of KS8 × Colman. Flag leaves from field-grown plants of both parents; the F₁ KS8 × Colman; the backcross, KS8 × (KS8 × Colman); and the F₂, (KS8 × Colman) selfed, were assayed for both HCN-p and LAC. Assays for HCN-p indicated that the backcross values provided a good fit to 1 intermediate:1 low (X² = 0.05, P = 0.82) and F₂ results to 3 intermediate:1 low (X² = 0.96, P =0.33). For LAC, backcross results were 1 LAC +:1 LAC - (X² = 0.20, P = 0.65) and F₂ values were 3 LAC+:1 LAC- (exact fit). Classification for both traits yielded good fits to 1:1:1:1 for the backcross (X² =0.30, P =0.96) and 9:3:3:1 for the F₂ (X² = 3.24, P = 0.36). These results indicated that the difference in HCN-p between Colman and KS8 depended primarily on a single gene, the difference in LAC depended largely on a separate single gene, and the HCN-p gene and the LAC gene were not linked.