Validation of male sterile, fertility restorer and hybrid lines in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with linked SSR markers

Hybrid seed production in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. Thell.) through a genetic male sterility (GMS) system is an emerging alternative to cytoplasmic sterility. Application of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for the validation of five wheat hybrids and their parental lines, i.e. male sterile female parent (A line) and maintainer (B line), was tested using three sets of gene specific SSR markers. It was possible to distinguish and validate each of these lines, using a combination of selected primers. Five SSR markers associated with the Rf1 gene were used for the identification of the fertility restoration gene in maintainer parental lines. Among five maintainer lines, only three JWB4, JWB5 and JWB10 amplified with these five SSR markers: Xgwm11, Xgwm18, Xgwm153, Xgwm264 and Xgwm273, thus exhibiting the presence of the Rf1 fertility restoration gene. Consequently another set of five wheat microsatellite primers was employed to amplify the fertility restoration gene Rf3 in the maintainer lines. Out of five maintainer lines, the Rf3 gene appeared only in two B-lines (JWB 1 and JWB 8) indicating the responsibility of Rf3 for the fertility restoration in these two genotypes