Molecular Tagging of Stem Anthocyanin Gene in Rice Using SSR Markers

Anthocyanin pigments are responsible for production of purple stem in rice. Proper understanding of anthocyanin pigmentation may lead to the development of a powerful tool in rice genetics and molecular biology. Segregation mode of stem anthocyanin gene is studied on 123 individual plants from an F2 population derived from Neda/DN-33-18 cross. Plants evaluated based on stem color as purple and colorless classes. Segregating of 83 purple to 40 colorless plants revealed that monogenic Mendelian inheritance governed on this trait. Molecular analysis using 59 microsatellite markers showed that 17 (28%) were polymorphic between parents. Linkage analysis on recessive individuals from F2 population showed that the stem anthocyanin gene has associated with SSR marker RM253 located on short arm of chromosome 6 in rice genome.