title: Molecular analysis of the high stearic acid content in sunflower mutant CAS-14.
abstract: Increasing the stearic acid content to improve sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) oil quality is a desirable breeding objective for food-processing applications. CAS-14 is a sunflower mutant line with a high stearic acid content in its seed oil (>35% vs. <6% in currently grown sunflower hybrids), which is controlled by the Es3 gene. However, the expression of the high stearic acid character in CAS-14 is strongly influenced by temperature during seed maturation and it is not uniform along the seed. The objectives of this study were (1) to identify PCR-based molecular markers linked to the Es3 gene from CAS-14, (2) to map this gene on the sunflower genetic map, and (3) to characterize the interaction between CAS-14 and CAS-3, a sunflower high stearic acid (about 26%) mutant line with the Es1 and Es2 genes determining this trait. Two F2 mapping populations were developed from crosses between CAS-14 and P21, a nuclear male sterile line with the Ms11 gene controlling this character, and between CAS-14 and CAS-3. One hundred and thirty-three individuals from P21xCAS-14, and 164 individuals from CAS-3xCAS-14 were phenotyped in F2 and F3 seed generations for fatty acid composition using gas-liquid chromatography, and they were then genotyped with microsatellite [simple sequence repeat (SSR)] and insertion-deletion (INDEL) markers. Bulk segregant analysis in the P21xCAS-14 population identified two markers on LG 8 putatively linked to Es3. A large linkage group was identified using additional markers mapping to LG 8. Es3 mapped to the distal half of LG 8 and was flanked by the SSR markers ORS243 and ORS1161 at genetic distances of 0.5, and 3.9 cM, respectively. The Ms11 gene was also mapped to LG 8 and genetic distance between this gene and Es3 was found to be 7.4 cM. In the CAS-3xCAS-14 population, two QTLs were identified on LG 1 and LG 8, which underlie the Es1 gene from CAS-3 and the Es3 gene from CAS-14, respectively. A significant epistatic interaction between these two QTLs was found. Results from this study provided a basis for determining CAS-14 efficient breeding strategies.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (CSIC), Apartado 4084, 14080 Córdoba, Spain. bperez@cica.es
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pérez-Vich
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Leon
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grondona
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Velasco
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Fernández-Martínez
mesh_terms: D001947:Breeding; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006368:Helianthus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry*; D013229:Stearic Acids / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D013229:Stearic Acids; C031183:stearic acid