Biomics

9E type of cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in sorghum belongs to environmentally-regulated types of male sterility in which the restoration of fertility is regulated, along with the genotype, by plant water availability and air humidity on the eve and during the flowering period. For studying the genetic control and understanding the mechanisms of epigenetic processes that regulate the restoration of fertility in this CMS type, the identification of fertility restoring genes (Rf-9E) is extremely important. To solve this problem, we carried out the work on identification of molecular markers associated with the Rf-9E genes. For this purpose, we used the plants of the BC1 population [(9E Pishchevoe 614 × 84/19) × Pishchevoe 614] segregated for fertility restoration. In total, 55 SSR markers were used, mapping all 10 chromosomes of the sorghum genome. It was found that SSR markers located on chromosome 2 of the sorghum genome, sam60498 (23911554 … 23913675 bp) and sam37585 (33055782 … 33056867 bp), demonstrate a significant association with the restoration of male fertility in the studied population. In silico analysis of the reference genome of S. bicolor (BTx623) showed that near this region, which includes more than 9 million bp, there are a pericentromeric heterochromatin region, and two PPR genes, 002G142700.1 and 002G144300.1 located at 23465796 … 23468350 bp and 23810047 … 23812824bp, respectively. Given that the vast majority of cloned Rf-genes in various plant species, including sorghum, contain sequences of PPR genes, the SSR markers identified in this study can indeed be the molecular markers of 9ECMS fertility-restoring genes. A hypothesis on the relationship between the localization of CMS 9E fertilityrestoring genes near heterochromatin and the “moisture-dependent” nature of male fertility restoration in this CMS type is discussed.

cytoplasmic male sterility, fertility restorer genes, SSR markers, CMS type 9E, sorghum

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