Co‐segregation of AFLP and RAPD markers to apospory in Guineagrass (<i>Panicum maximum</i> Jacq.)

Abstract

Synopsis A genetic linkage map of guinea grass ( Panicum maximum Jacq.) was generated with nine of the AFLP markers found to be associated with apospory. These apospory‐associated markers were assigned to a linkage group having previous association with microsporogenesis of the aposporous guineagrass cultivar ‘Natsukaze’. An aposporous linkage group was constructed utilizing 38 AFLP markers. Embryo sac analysis revealed that sexual and apomictic embryo sacs occurred at a frequency of 1 : 1, indicating simple inheritance of a single major gene controlling apospory in guineagrass. In addition, utilizing 56 AFLP primer combinations and 41 RAPD primers, 39 linkage groups and 360 simplex marker loci were assigned to the genetic map of the ‘Natsukaze’ cultivar. These markers covered 1703.5 cM of the autotetraploid guineagrass genome (2n = 4x = 32), with an average spacing of 4.7 cM. These tightly linked markers to apospory locus in guineagrass could be a powerful tool for marker‐assisted selection of apospory and map‐based cloning of the apospory gene.