New lines of male sterile sugi discovered using DNA markers

Marker-Assisted Selection of Trees with MALE STERILITY 1 in Cryptomeria japonica D. Don

Yoshinari Moriguchi (a), Saneyoshi Ueno (b), Yoichi Hasegawa (b), Takumi Tadama (a), Masahiro Watanabe (a), Ryunosuke Saito (a), Satoko Hirayama (c), Junji Iwai (d), Yukinori Konno (e)

(a) Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.

(b) Department of Forest Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology, FFPRI, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

(c) Niigata Prefecture Niigata Regional Promotion Bureau, Niigata, Japan.

(d) Niigata Prefectural Forest Research Institute, Murakami, Niigata, Japan.

(e) Miyagi Prefectural Forest Research Institute, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.

Forests, 11(7), 734, July 2020 DOI：10.3390/f11070734( External link )

Male sterile sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) is also called pollen-free sugi, since it is unable to disperse mature pollen due to a dysfunction of one of the genes relating to pollen formation. If the gene has one normal wild type (allele), it functions normally and pollen will be produced, even though the individual has one mutant type. Thus, DNA markers, which discern the type of the gene, can be used to detect clones with normal pollen but with mutant gene types.

In the present study, diagnostic DNA markers for the male sterility gene (MS1) were used to analyze 603 individuals from six prefectures (Niigata, Yamagata, Miyagi, Tottori, Shizuoka, and Kumamoto) and 47 individuals from a natural population in Miyagi prefecture, and we found eight individuals with mutant MS1.

Sugi grows widely over the Japanese archipelago and has adapted well to each local district’s climate. Therefore, the collection of male sterile lines from each district will help to efficiently develop male sterile cultivars that are well-suited for each local climate and utilization purposes. DNA markers are an efficient means to search for male sterile lines.

Figure: Newly discovered male sterile (MS1) lines of sugi in the present study.
The bold lines delineate breeding regions, including breeding districts. The breeding districts are classified based on climatic conditions. In the present study, samples were collected from at least one prefecture in each breeding region. The roman figures (77, 163, 238, 34, 72, and 66 from Miyagi, Yamagata, Niigata, Shizuoka, Tottori, and Kumamoto prefectures, respectively) indicate the number of samples analyzed.