U.S. Department of Agriculture: Agricultural Research Service, Lincoln, Nebraska
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
2011
Citation
Theor Appl Genet (2011) 123:351–358; DOI 10.1007/s00122-011-1588-6
Abstract
Rust is a serious fungal disease in the sunflower growing areas worldwide with increasing importance in North America in recent years. Several genes conferring resistance to rust have been identified in sunflower, but few of them have been genetically mapped and linked to molecular markers. The rust resistance gene R4 in the germplasm line HA-R3 was derived from an Argentinean open-pollinated variety and is still one of most effective genes. The objectives of this study were to determine the chromosome location of the R4 gene and the allelic relationship of R4 with the Radv rust resistance gene. A total of 63 DNA markers previously mapped to linkage group (LG) 13 were used to screen for polymorphisms between two parental lines HA 89 and HA-R3. A genetic map of LG 13 was constructed with 21 markers, resulting in a total map length of 93.8 cM and an average distance of 4.5 cM between markers. Two markers, ZVG61 and ORS581, flanked the R4 gene at 2.1 and 0.8 cM, respectively, and were located on the lower end of LG 13 within a large NBS-LRR cluster identified previously. The PCR pattern generated by primer pair ZVG61 was unique in the HA-R3 line, compared to lines HA-R1, HA- R4, and HA-R5, which carry other R4 alleles. A SCAR marker linked to the rust resistance gene Radv mapped to LG 13 at 13.9 cM from the R4 locus, indicating that Radv is not an allele of the R4 locus. The markers tightly linked to the R4 gene will facilitate gene pyramiding for rust resistance breeding of sunflower.