Nils-Otto Nilsson

Evaluation of RFLP and RAPD markers in a comparison of Brassica napus breeding lines

RFLP and RAPD markers were evaluated and compared for their ability to determine genetic relationships in a set of three B. napus breeding lines. Using a total of 50 RFLP and 92 RAPD markers, the relatedness between the lines was determined. In total, the RFLP and the RAPD analysis revealed more than 500 and 400 bands, respectively. The relative frequencies of loci with allele differences were estimated from the band data. The RFLP and RAPD marker sets detected very similar relationships among the three lines, consistent with known pedigree data. Bootstrap analyses showed that the use of approximately 30 probes or primers would have been sufficient to achieve these relationships. This indicates that RAPD markers have the same resolving power as RFLP markers when used on exactly the same set of B. napus genotypes. Since RAPD markers are easier and quicker to use, these markers may be preferred in applications where the relationships between closely-related breeding lines are of interest. The use of RAPD markers in fingerprinting applications may, however, not be warranted, and this is discussed in relation to the reliability of RAPD markers.

Chiasma and recombination data in plants: are they compatible?

It has long been considered that the number of chiasmata formed during meiosis corresponds to the number of crossovers indicated by the genetic map. However, recent investigations in plants show an unexpected discrepancy in the results obtained when calculating the total number of crossover events per meiosis by these two methods. Is this discrepancy due to methodological difficulties? Or is there something fundamentally wrong with our understanding of crossovers and chiasmata?

Marker-assisted selection of restored male-fertile Brassica napus plants using a set of dominant RAPD markers

Bulked segregant analysis was used to identify RAPD markers in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) that were linked to a male fertility restorer gene for Ogura cytoplasmic male sterility. After screening for polymorphisms using 960 primers, 14 RAPD markers were mapped to a 25 cM region including the restorer locus, a mapping population of 242 F2 individuals being employed. The map was used to select 11 markers that were investigated for polymorphisms between the restorer donor line and 46 recipient lines. A set of four RAPD markers, one in coupling phase with the restorer allele and three with the non-restorer allele, which were informative in all 46 combinations, were used in marker assisted selection of plants homozygous for the restorer allele. A total of 906 homozygous restored plants were found among the 4605 BC1F2 plants analysed. Phenotypic data of a subset of the classified plants was compared with the RAPD data and the expected number of recombinants was calculated from the map data. A close correspondence between the expected and observed numbers of plants with a deviating phenotype was found. Thus, use of a set of dominant RAPD markers provides a way obtaining reliable data for marker-assisted selection.

Crossover distribution in barley analysed through RFLP linkage data

The pattern of recombination in barley with regard to (1) the distribution of crossover points among whole gametes, (2) the distribution of crossover points among individual chromosomes and (3) the distribution of crossover points within chromosomes has been analysed using data sets underlying two recently published restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) linkage maps representing male and female meiosis, respectively. The data indicated that the process of recombination had been random with no interference. The two data sets gave similar results, indicating that male and female meiosis in barley do no differ significantly. The possibility of using RFLP data in studies of crossover distribution is stressed.