Abstract

Development of a transposon-based marker system for mutation breeding in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.)

Author(s): S.B. Im, S.-J. Kwon, J. Ryu, S.W. Jeong, J.B. Kim, J.-W. Ahn, S.H. Kim, Y.D. Jo, H.-I. Choi and S.-Y. Kang

Under certain circumstances, transposable elements (TE) can create or reverse mutations and alter the genome size of a cell. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) is promising for plant transposon tagging due to its small genome size and its low content of repetitive DNA. We developed a marker system based on targeted region amplification polymorphisms (TE-TRAP) that uses the terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) of transposons. A total of 3816 class 2 transposons belonging to the PIF/Harbinger family were identified from the whole sorghum genome that produced five primers, including eight types of TIRs. To define the applicability and utilization of TE-TRAP, we used 21 individuals that had been bred after �¤-ray irradiation. In total, 31 TE-TRAP, 16 TD, and 21 AFLP primer combinations generated 1133, 223, and 555 amplicons, respectively. The percent polymorphic marker was 62.8, 51.1, and 59.3% for the TE-TRAP, TD, and AFLP markers, respectively. Phylogenetic and principal component analyses revealed that TE-TRAP divided the 21 individuals into three groups. Analysis of molecular variance suggested that TE-TRAP had a higher level of genetic diversity than the other two marker systems. After verifying the efficiency of TE-TRAP, 189 sorghum individuals were used to investigate the associations between the markers and the �¤-ray doses. Two significant associations were found among the polymorphic markers. This TE-based method provides a useful marker resource for mutation breeding research.

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