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Mapping of the genes for dioecism and monoecism in Spinacia oleracea L.: evidence that both genes are closely linked

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Abstract

Spinach is basically a dioecious species, with occasional monoecious plants in some populations. Sexual dimorphism in dioecious spinach plants is controlled by an allelic pair termed X and Y located on the short arm of the longest chromosome (x = 6). Ten AFLP markers, closely linked to the X/Y locus, were identified using bulked segregant analysis, four of which were revealed to co-segregate with Y in the present mapping population. We mapped the AFLP markers and two known male-specific DNAs to a 13.4 cM region encompassing the locus. These markers will be the basis for positional cloning of the sex-determination gene. We also showed that a single, incompletely dominant gene is responsible for the highly staminate monoecious character. The gene was found to be located at a distance of 4.3 cM from microsatellite marker SO4, which mapped 1.6 cM from the X/Y locus. This indicates that the monoecious gene seems not to be allelic to but closely linked to the X/Y gene pair. SO4 will enable breeders to efficiently select highly male monoecious plants for preferential use as the pollen parent for hybrid seed production.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Professor Jules Janick for fruitful discussions. We are grateful to Mino Nakaya for technical assistance. This work was supported by Grants in Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, N-9, W-9, Sapporo, 060-8589, Japan

    Yasuyuki Onodera, Itaru Yonaha, Hiroki Masumo & Tetsuo Mikami

  2. Tohoku Seed Co., Himuro, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, 321-3232, Japan

    Atsushi Tanaka, Satoshi Niikura & Seishi Yamazaki

Authors
  1. Yasuyuki Onodera
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  2. Itaru Yonaha
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  3. Hiroki Masumo
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  4. Atsushi Tanaka
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  5. Satoshi Niikura
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  6. Seishi Yamazaki
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  7. Tetsuo Mikami
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tetsuo Mikami.

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Communicated by K. Toriyama.

Y. Onodera, I. Yonaha and H. Masumo contributed equally to this work.

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Onodera, Y., Yonaha, I., Masumo, H. et al. Mapping of the genes for dioecism and monoecism in Spinacia oleracea L.: evidence that both genes are closely linked. Plant Cell Rep 30, 965–971 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-010-0998-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-010-0998-2

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