Prediction of heterosis for grain yield in rice using 'key' informative EST-SSR markers

With 2 tables This study was undertaken to assess the comparative potential of 25 Expressed Sequence Tag derived simple sequence repeats (EST-SSRs) and 25 genomic SSRs in the prediction of grain yield heterosis using a set of nine cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines and 32 restorer lines of rice. EST-SSRs and genomic SSRs exhibited an average Polymorphism Information Content value of 0.37 and 0.45, respectively. The coefficient of marker polymorphism among parental lines with respect to a set of hypervariable EST and genomic SSRs was correlated with standard heterosis for grain yield of six public bred rice hybrids. EST-SSRs gave a better correlation (r = 0.75) as compared with genomic SSRs (r = 0.09). When 10 'key' informative EST-SSR markers which showed a higher positive correlation with grain yield heterosis were validated in a new set of 14 experimental hybrids, the markers exhibited a higher correlation (r = 0.79), indicating the predictive value of these EST-SSRs. We recommend these 10 'key' informative EST-SSR markers for analysis of genetic diversity of parental lines and prediction of heterosis in hybrid rice breeding programmes.