Annals of Botany

A genetic linkage map of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) based on GBS

Genetic linkage maps remain very important tools for gene discovery in many plant species. Whilst several genetic maps exist for perennial ryegrass, it has been difficult to integrate data across studies because of a lack of a reference genome sequence and common genetic markers.

Examples of graphical genotypes of chromosomes 2 and 3 (A) before and (B) after genotype error correction.
Examples of graphical genotypes of chromosomes 2 and 3 (A) before and (B) after genotype error correction. The x-axis consists of genotype calls of individuals and the y-axis consists of markers ordered by chromosomal map position. The blue colour represents the allele from the paternal grandparent, pink from the maternal grandparent and yellow for the heterozygous state. Image by Velmurugan et al. (2016).

Velmurugan et al. have developed a dense SNP-based genetic map of a reference mapping population of ryegrass using genotyping-by-sequencing. All markers on the genetic map are anchored to a draft genome sequence of one of the grandparents of the F2 population; thus future genetics studies using the population will be comparable.

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