Association of morphological and RFLP markers in rice (Oryza sativaL.)

Abstract
Seventeen morphological marker genes were associated with restriction fragment length polymorphism markers in rice by using four F2 populations, each segregating for a few observable traits, and 14 near isogenic lines (NILs), each containing one morphological mutant gene. The location of five genes was confirmed on the basis of F2 analysis: Purple hull (Pr) (16.8 ± 7.9 cM away from RG163 on chromosome 4); Phenol staining (Ph) (20.8 ± 8.4 cM away from RG163 on chromosome 4); glabrous leaf and hull (gl-1) (14.3 ± 7.4 cM away from RG182, and 20.9 ± 8.3 cM from RG403 on chromosome 5); Brown pericarp (Rc) (12.5 ± 7.2 cM away from RG30 on chromosome 7); and lazy growth habit (la) (28.8 ± 9.4 cM away from RG118 on chromosome 11). In addition, 12 other morphological markers, including the agronomically important genes semi-dwarf (sd-1) and Pollen restoring factor (Rf-1) were tentatively associated with mapped DNA clones based on screening pairs of NILs.Key words: linkage mapping, morphological marker, rice, Oryza sativa L., restriction fragment length polymorphism.