Early identification of citrus zygotic seedlings using pollen-specific molecular markers

Abstract

This study was carried out to develop molecular techniques to allow the selection of zygotic seedlings in the early stage of the plant development. We identified 37 pollen-specific molecular markers from RAPD analysis and successfully used them for identification of the zygotic seedlings from various hybrid crosses. Three Satsuma mandarin cultivars (‘Morita unshiu’, ‘Nangan 20’ and ‘Miyagawawase’) were used as mother parents and seven cultivars (‘Ponkan’, ‘Lee’, ‘Kinokuni’, ‘Shiranuhi’, ‘Tamnaneunbong’, ‘Shinyegam’, and ‘Sunburst’ mandarins) served as pollen parents. PCR analysis showed that 2 primers could identify zygotic hybrid seedlings. Among them, an UBC-27 primer was used to identify the zygotic seedlings from hybrid crosses of “‘Nangan 20’ × ‘Kinokuni’” mandarin, “‘Nangan 20 × Ponkan’” mandarin and “‘Miyagawawase × Sunburst’” tangerine. In total 29 out of 40 seedlings (73%), 9 out of 47 seedlings (19%), and 13 out of 45 (29%) were identified as zygotic seedlings, respectively. These results can show that the pollen-specific markers selected in this study can be used effectively for early identification of zygotic seedlings from Citrus hybrid crosses.