LAUSR

Background: In plant breeding program to produce hybrid varieties, pair of male sterile and restorer fertility lines are required. Differentiation of lines possessing restorer fertility allele from the lines lacking it remove the need for the progeny test, and thus reducing the time and the cost in the hybrid production procedure. Canola breeding program in Iran has concentrated toward production of domestic hybrid varieties, however, it suffers from lack of molecular information in restore fertility status of lines, and therefore it needs time and tedious activities. Objectives: To design gene-based markers for distinguishing R-, A- lines and hybrids in sunflower breeding programs. Material and Methods: Aligning sequences of locus responsible for male sterility and that of male fertility resulted in finding differences in the loci, which used to define two set of suitable primer pairs. Genomic DNA from 25 R-lines (23 inbred lines and two commercial lines), 9 A-lines (7 inbred lines and two commercial lines), one B-line and two commercial hybrids were extracted and used in PCR as template. Results: Using one-primer pairs, a band of nearly 1500 bp was amplified in restorer lines but not in A-, B- lines. Another primer pair used to distinguish hybrids (heterozygout) from restorer lines. Results of the report is predicted to be used in canola breeding for hybrid production. Conclusions: Although the molecular bases for the male sterility and fertility restoration in rapeseed is not published, taking advantages of gene-based markers, make rapeseed breeding program more efficient regarding time and costs.