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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » Plant Introduction Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #86428
Title: INHERITANCE STUDIES OF FIVE LOCI CONTROLLING ISOZYMES IN AGASTACHE FOENICULUM (PURSH) KUNTZE

Author
item FUENTES-GRANADOS, ROGER - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item Widrlechner, Mark
item WILSON, LESTER - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/22/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Anise hyssop is an aromatic herb from the prairies of the northern Great Plains. It is cultivated for flavoring and perfumes, as a decorative perennial in flower gardens, and as a nectar plant for honeybees. Little was known about its genetics or reproduction until 1995 when Fuentes-Granados and Widrlechner found moderate amounts of genetic diversity among and within 11 anise hyssop populations maintained at the genebank of the USDA-ARS North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station in Ames, Iowa. They also reported that seed production in anise hyssop resulted primarily from cross- pollination. The present study continues that initial research by confirming the details for genetic control of enzyme variation in anise hyssop. Controlled crosses were made between plants with different enzymes, and seedlings from those crosses were then analyzed. Statistical tests demonstrated that variability in all five enzymes studied were genetically controlled by single genes with typical patterns of gene expression for these enzymes. These results show that those five enzymes were reliable genetic markers, potentially useful to plant breeders for confirming the parentage of their crosses and for studying the control of essential oil composition (the source of fragrences and flavorings), and to the managers of germplasm collections for identifying anise hyssop populations that are genetically distinct from those now conserved in genebanks.

Technical Abstract: Technical Abstract. Inheritance of five isozyme loci for A. foeniculum was studied by analyzing the progeny of controlled crosses via starch gel electrophoresis. The loci studied were Cat, Got-2, Pgm-2, Tpi-1 and Tpi-2. Segregation analyses of families polymorphic at each of these loci support the following hypotheses: Cat is controlled by a single gene with codominant alleles; Got-2 is controlled by a single gene with codominant alleles encoding dimeric protein products; Pgm 2 is controlled by a single gene with codominant alleles encoding monomeric proteins; and Tpi-1 and Tpi-2 are each controlled by a single gene with codominant alleles encoding dimeric protein products. Distorted segregation ratios were observed in some families segregating for Got-2 and Pgm-2. No linkages were detected among any of the cosegregating loci.