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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #173464
Title: MAP POSITION OF THE FRO1 LOCUS IN PISUM SATIVUM

Author
item Grusak, Michael
item LI, CHEE-MING - BAYLOR COLLEGE MED
item MOFFET, M - MONTANA STATE UNIV
item WEEDEN, NORMAN - MONTANA STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Pisum Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/20/2004
Publication Date: 12/20/2004
Citation: Grusak, M.A., Li, C., Moffet, M., Weeden, N.F. 2004. Map position of the FRO1 locus in Pisum sativum. Pisum Genetics. 36:6-8.

Interpretive Summary: Iron is an essential plant mineral that is acquired from soil. In legume crops like pea, soil iron must be converted from a ferric (Fe3+) to a ferrous (Fe2+) form prior to absorption by the plant roots. The primary mechanism in plants that enables this conversion is a root protein called an iron reductase; this reductase is named FRO1 in pea. It previously has been shown that the overall iron acquisition by a pea plant is related to how much FRO1 activity is found in the roots. Because this is an important process, we were interested in identifying where this gene occurs in the pea genome (i.e., position on the pea genetic map). We developed gene-specific tools to locate this gene in pea, and demonstrated that it is localized to the lower end of linkage group 4. Linkage groups are assemblages of genes that correspond to individual chromosomes. The identification of FRO1 to this linkage group in pea will provide opportunities for improvements in this plant's iron nutrition, and also provides a new marker for the genetic map of pea.

Technical Abstract: Iron acquisition in pea, as well as in other dicots and the non-grass monocots, involves a two-step iron reduction and transport process referred to as Strategy I. The root iron reductase in pea (designated FRO1) is a plasmalemma-localized protein that reduces rhizospheric ferric iron (usually as Fe[III]-chelates) to ferrous iron, prior to the membrane uptake of ferrous iron through the divalent metal transporter, RIT1. Thus, the iron reductase is an important regulator of whole-plant iron status, especially under alkaline soil conditions where available iron is limiting. It also is a potential breeding target for the development of improved cultivars that would be less susceptible to conditions of iron deficiency stress. Because of our interest in this gene, we wished to map the FRO1 locus in pea, and therefore developed a FRO1-specific CAPS marker that could be used with the JI1794 x Slow mapping population. Over 1,000 segregating markers have been mapped in this recombinant inbred population, permitting new markers/loci to be located with high precision. Our use of the FRO1 marker allowed us to map this locus to the lower arm of linkage group IV (LGIV) in Pisum sativum. The location of FRO1 near the distal end of the non-satellite arm of LGIV makes this gene an important anchor marker for this region of the pea linkage map, because few markers are currently available in this region.