Biotech Updates

Molecular Markers for Nematode Resistance Breeding

July 27, 2012

Using molecular markers, scientists of the U.S. Department of Agriculture would be able to expedite development of resistance to two important pests of cotton – the root knot nematode and the reniform nematode. These cotton pests have been wreaking havoc for more than 100 years and breeding research has slowed down because resistance is governed by multiple genes, as well as being costly and time-consuming.

At the agency's Genetic and Precision Agricultural Research Unit in Mississippi, plant geneticist Johnie Jenkins and colleagues developed genetic markers for the genes responsible for resistance to root-knot nematode in upland cotton. They were identified and found to be in chromosomes 11 and 14. The researchers also found resistance to reniform nematode in wild Gossypium barbadense that is governed by more than one gene. The markers linked to these genes were located in chromosomes 21 and 18.

Read the original news at http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=1261