Abstract
Breeders have traditionally improved plant varieties by selecting on the basis of phenotype. Now restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) linkage maps are being constructed for most major crop plants and these maps provide a more direct method for selecting desirable genes via their linkage to easily detectable RFLP markers. The integration of RFLP techniques into plant breeding promises to: (1) Expedite the movement of desirable genes among varieties, (2) Allow the transfer of novel genes from related wild species, (3) Make possible the analysis of complex polygenic characters as ensembles of single Mendelian factors, and (4) Establish genetic relationships between sexually incompatible crop plants. In the future, high density RFLP maps may also make it possible to clone genes whose products are unknown, such as genes for disease resistance or stress tolerance.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allard, R.W. 1960. Principles of Plant Breeding. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
Mendel, G. 1865. Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden. Verb. Naturf.-Ver. Brunn IV:3–47 (English translation published as a pamphlet by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1925).
Emerson, R.A., Beadle, G.W., and Eraser, A.C. 1935. A summary of linkage studies in maize. Cornell Univ. Agr. Exp. Sta. Memoir 180.
MacArthur, J.W. 1934. Linkage groups in tomato, J. Genet. 29:123–133.
Sax, K. 1923. The association of size differences with seed-coat pattern and pigmentation in Phaseolus vulgaris. Genetics 8:552–560.
Thoday, J.M. 1961. Location of polygenes. Nature 191:368–370.
Tanksley, S.D. and Orton, T.J. 1983. Isozymes in Plant Genetics and Breeding, Parts 1A and 1B. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Tanksley, S.D. 1983. Molecular markers in plant breeding. Plant Mol. Biol. Rep. 1:3–8.
Botstein, D., White, R.L., Skolnick, M., and Davis, R.W. 1980. Construction of a genetic linkage map in man using restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 32:314–331.
Wyman, A.R. and White, R. 1980. A highly polymorphic locus in human DNA. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77:6754–6758.
Donis-Keller, H., Green, P., Helms, C., Cartinhour, S., Weiffenbach, B., Stephens, K., Keith, T.P., Bowden, D.W., Smith, D.R., Lander, E.S., Botstein, D., Akots, G., Rediker, K.S., Gravius, T., Brown, V.A., Rising, M.B., Parkers, C., Powers, J.A., Watt, D.E., Kauffman, E.R., Bricker, A., Phipps, R., Muller-Kahle, H., Fulton, T.R., Ng S. Schumm, J.W., Braman, J.C., Knowlton, R.G., Barker, D.F., Crooks, S.M., Lincoln, S.E., Daly, M.J., and Abrahamson, J. 1987. A genetic linkage map of the human genome. Cell 51:319–337.
Tanksley, S., Miller, J., Paterson, A., and Bernatzky, R. 1988. Molecular mapping of plant chromosomes, p. 157–173. In: Chromosome Structure and Function. Gustafson, J. F., and Appels, R., (Eds.). Plenum, New York.
Helentjaris, T., King, G., Slocum, M., Siedenstrang, C., and Wegman, S. 1985. Restriction fragment polymorphisms as probes for plant diversity and their development as tools for applied plant breeding. Plant Mol. Biol. 5:109–118.
Tanksley, S.D., Bernatzky, R., Lapitan, N.L., and Prince J.P. 1988. Conservation of gene repertoire but not gene order in pepper and tomato. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85:6419–6423.
McCouch, S.R., Kochert, G., Yu, Z.H., Wang, Z.Y., Khush, G.S., Coffman, W.R., Tanksley, S.T. 1988. Molecular mapping of rice chromosomes. Theor. Appl. Genet. In press.
Chang, C., Bowman, J.C., DeJohn, A.W., Lander, E.S., and Meyerowitz, E.S. 1988. Restriction fragment length polymorphism linkage map for Arabidopsis lhaliana. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85:6856–6860.
Helentjaris, T. 1987. A genetic linkage map for maize based on RFLPs. Trends in Genet. 3:217–221.
Landry, B.S., Kesseli, R.V., Farrara, B., and Michelmore, R.W. 1987. A genetic map of lettuce (Lactuca saliva L.) with restriction fragment length polymorphism, isozyme, disease resistance and morphological markers. Genetics 116 331–337.
Bonierbale, M.W., Plaisted, R.L., and Tanksley, S.D. 1988. RFLP maps based on a common set of clones reveal modes of chromosomal evolution in potato and tomato. Genetics 120:1095–1103.
Zeven, A.C., and van Harten, A.M. 1979. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Conference, Broadening the Genetic Base of Crops. Pudoc, Wageningen, Netherlands.
Young, N.D., Zamir, D., Canal, M.W., and Tanksley, S.D. 1988. Use of isogenic lines and simultaneous probing to identify DNA markers tightly linked to the Tm-2a gene in tomato. Genetics 120:579–585.
Paterson, A.H., Lander, E.S., Hewitt, J.D., Peterson, S., Lincoln, S.E., and Tanksley, S.D. 1988. Resolution of quantitative traits into Mendelian factors by using a complete RFLP linkage map. Nature 335:721–726.
Murray, M. Agrigenetics Corporation (personal communication).
Falconer, D.S. 1960. Introduction to Quantitative Genetics. Ronald Press Co., New York.
Lander, E.S., and Botstein, D. 1989. Mapping Mendelian factors underlying quantitative traits using RFLP linkage maps. Genetics 121:185–199.
Osborne, T.C., Alexander, D.C., and Fobes, J.F. 1987. Identification of restriction fragment length polymorphisms linked to genes controlling soluble solids content in tomato fruit. Theor. Appl. Genet. 73:350–356.
Tanksley, S.D., and Hewitt, J. 1988. Use of molecular markers in breeding for soluble solids content in tomato—a re-examination. Theor. Appl. Genet. 75:811–823.
Young, N.D. and Tanksley, S.D. 1988. Restriction fragment length polymophism maps and the concept of graphical genotypes. Theor. Appl. Genet. In press.
Stam, P., and Zeven, A.C. 1981. The theoretical proportion of the donor genome in near-isogenic lines of self-fertilizers bred by back-crossing. Euphytica 30:227–238.
Zeven, A.C., Knott, D.R., and Johnson, R. 1983. Investigation of linkage drag in near isogenic lines of wheat by testing for seedling reaction to races of stem rust, leaf rust and yellow rust. Euphytica 32:319–327.
Young, N.D. and Tanksley, S.D. 1989. RFLP analysis of the size of chromosomal segments retained around the Tm-2 locus of tomato during backcross breeding. Theor. Appl. Genet. In press.
Hawks, J.G. 1977. The importance of wild germplasm in plant breeding. Euphytica 26:615–621.
Goodman, R.M., Hauptli, H., Crossway, A., and Knaut, V.C. 1987. Gene transfer in crop improvement. Science 236:48–54.
Stalker, H.T. 1980. Utilization of wild species for crop improvement. Adv. Agron. 33:111–147.
Gleba, Y.Y. and Sytnik, K.M. 1984. Protoplast Fusion and Genetic Engineering in Plants. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Gale, M. (personal communication).
Tanksley, S.D. et al. unpublished data.
McNaughton, I.H. 1976. Turnip and relatives, p. 45–48. In: Evolution of Crop Plants. Simmonds, H. W. (Ed.) Longman, New York.
Smith, J.P., Jr., 1977. Vascular Plant Families. Mad River Press, Eureka, CA.
Maniatis, T., Frisch, E.F., and Sambrook, J. 1982. Molecular Cloning. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
Federoff, N.V., Furtek, D.B., and Nelson, O.E., Jr., 1984. Cloning of the bronze locus in maize by a simple and generalizable procedure using the transposable controlling element Activator (Ac). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81:3825–3829.
Baker, B., Schell, J., Lörz, H., and Federoff, N. 1986. Transposition of the maize controlling element “Activator” in tobacco. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83:4844–4848.
Orkin, S.H. 1986. Reverse genetics and human disease. Cell 47:845–850.
Steinmetz, M., Minard, K., Harvath, S., McNicholas, J., Srenlinger, J., Wake, C., Long, E., Mach, B., and Hood, L. 1981. A molecular map of the immune response region of the major histocompatibility complex of the mouse. Nature 300:35–42.
Poutska, A., Pohl, T., Barlow, D.P., Zehetner, G., Craig, A., Michiels, F., Ehrich, E., Frischauf, A.-M., and Lehrach, H. 1986. Molecular approaches to mammalian genetics. Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology 51:131–139.
Klee, H.J., Hayford, M.B., and Rogers, S.B. 1988. Gene rescue in plants: A model for “shotgun” cloning by retransformation. 210:282–287.
Fehr, W.R. . (Ed) Genetic Contributions of Yield Gains of Five Major Crop Plants. Crop Science Society of America, Madison, WI.
Abel, P., Nelson, R.S., De, B., Hoffman, N., Rogers, S.G., Fraley, R.T., and Beachy, R.N. 1986. Delay of disease development in transgenic plants that express the tobacco mosaic virus coat protein gene. Science 232:738–743.
Loesch-Fries, L., Merlo, D., Zinnen, T., Burhop, L., Hill, K., Krahn, D., Jarvis, N., Nelson, S., and Halk, E. 1987. Expression of alfalfa mosaic virus RNA 4 in transgenic plants confers virus resistance. EMBO J. 6:1845–1851.
Vaeck, M. et al. 1987. Transgenic plants protected from insect attack. Nature 328:33–37.
Schroeder, W.T., Provvidenti, R., and Robinson, R.W. 1967. Incubation temperature and virus strains important in evaluating tomato genotypes for tobacco mosaic virus reactions. Tomato Genet. Coop. Rep. 17:47–48.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tanksley, S., Young, N., Paterson, A. et al. RFLP Mapping in Plant Breeding: New Tools for an Old Science. Nat Biotechnol 7, 257–264 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0389-257
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0389-257
This article is cited by
-
Development of breeder chip for gene detection and molecular-assisted selection by target sequencing in wheat
Molecular Breeding (2023)
-
Progenitor species hold untapped diversity for potential climate-responsive traits for use in wheat breeding and crop improvement
Heredity (2022)
-
QTL analysis in multiple sorghum mapping populations facilitates dissection of the genetic control of agronomic and yield-related traits in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (Moench)]
Euphytica (2022)
-
In silico integration of disease resistance QTL, genes and markers with the Brassica juncea physical map
Molecular Breeding (2022)
-
Molecular Breeding of a Novel PTGMS Line of WDR for Broad-Spectrum Resistance to Blast Using Pi9, Pi5, and Pi54 Genes
Rice (2021)