Authors: Kanuganti Satish Zenbaba Gutema Cécile Grenier Patrick J Rich Gebisa Ejeta
Publish Date: 2011/12/13
Volume: 124, Issue: 6, Pages: 989-1003
Abstract
Striga is a devastating parasitic weed in Africa and parts of Asia Low Striga germination stimulant activity a wellknown resistance mechanism in sorghum is controlled by a single recessive gene lgs Molecular markers linked to the lgs gene can accelerate development of Strigaresistant cultivars Using a high density linkage map constructed with 367 markers DArT and SSRs and an in vitro assay for germination stimulant activity towards Striga asiatica in 354 recombinant inbred lines derived from SRN39 low stimulant × Shanqui Red high stimulant we precisely tagged and mapped the lgs gene on SBI05 between two tightly linked microsatellite markers SB3344 and SB3352 at a distance of 05 and 15 cM respectively The finemapped lgs region was delimited to a 58 cM interval with the closest three markers SB3344 SB3346 and SB3343 positioned at 05 07 and 09 cM respectively We validated tightly linked markers in a set of 23 diverse sorghum accessions most of which were known to be Striga resistant by genotyping and phenotyping for germination stimulant activity towards both S asiatica and S hermonthica The markers cosegregated with Striga germination stimulant activity in 21 of the 23 tested lines The lgs locus similarly affected germination stimulant activity for both Striga species The identified markers would be useful in markerassisted selection for introgressing this trait into susceptible sorghum cultivars Examination of the sorghum genome sequence and comparative analysis with the rice genome suggests some candidate genes in the finemapped region 400 kb that may affect strigolactone biosynthesis or exudation This work should form a foundation for mapbased cloning of the lgs gene and aid in elucidation of an exact mechanism for resistance based on low Striga germination stimulant activity
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