Development of competitive allele specific PCR based SNP genotyping assays for breeding applications in castor

Abstract

Castor is an industrially important oilseed crop, which provides raw material to many industries. Despite its industrial importance, the genomic resources available for molecular breeding applications are limited. In the present study, a set of 135 SNP loci polymorphic between two castor inbred lines namely, JC-12 and RG-1963 were targeted to develop competitive allele specific PCR assays for genotyping purposes. The assays were validated in the F2 population of JC-12 × RG-1963 cross. Out of 135 assays designed, 124 were found to be successful in discriminating three expected genotypes in the F2 population. Using the SNP genotyping data, a genetic linkage map representing 10 haploid chromosomes of castor was constructed, which corresponded very well with the physical map. This set of validated SNP markers is a useful resource for application in molecular breeding of castor.