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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sunflower and Plant Biology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #217060
Title: Mapping of one of the two genes controlling lemon ray flower color in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

Author
item YUE, BING - NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
item VICK, BRADY
item YUAN, WENGE - LANGFANG AG&FOR SCI,CHINA
item HU, JINGUO

Submitted to: Journal of Heredity
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/18/2008
Publication Date: 5/13/2008
Citation: Yue, B., Vick, B.A., Yuan, W., Hu, J. 2008. Mapping one of the 2 genes controlling lemon ray flower color in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Journal of Heredity. 99(5):564-567.

Interpretive Summary: We crossed two breeding lines with yellow ray flowers and observed 111 progeny with yellow ray flower and nine plants with lemon-colored ray flowers. The segregation pattern fit a 15:1 ratio and suggested that the lemon ray flower color is determined by two independent recessive genes that had been contributed individually by each of the parents. With molecular markers, we mapped one of these two genes onto linkage group 11 of the public sunflower map. The yellow color of the sunflower ray flower results from the presence of carotenoids in the chromoplasts. Carotenoids are the precursors for vitamin A and may possess anticarcinogenic properties. The plant materials reported in this paper will facilitate the understanding of genetic factors controlling carotenoid biosynthesis in sunflower with an ultimate goal of enhancing the nutritional value of sunflower products for human and animal health.

Technical Abstract: In an F2 population of 120 plants derived from a cross between two breeding lines with yellow ray flowers, we observed 111 plants with yellow- and nine plants with lemon-colored ray flowers. The segregation pattern fit a 15:1 (x2(15:1)=0.32, p>0.5) ratio, suggesting that the lemon ray flower color is conditioned by two independent recessive genes that had been contributed individually by each of the parents. We sampled 111 plants from the three F2:3 families displaying a 3 to 1 segregating ratio for genotyping with molecular markers. One of the genes, Yf1, was mapped onto linkage group 11 of the public sunflower map. A TRAP (targeted region amplified polymorphism) marker (B26P17Trap13-68) had a genetic distance of 1.5 cM to Yf1, and one SSR marker (ORS733) and one EST based marker (HT167) previously mapped to linkage group 11 were linked to Yf1 with distances of 9.9 and 2.3 cM, respectively.