Designing Molecular Marker Specific to PET1 Male Sterile Cytoplasm in Sunflower

Cytoplasmic-genetic male sterility is widely used for production of sunflower hybrid seeds. In sunflower, an ORF, ORFH522, presented at 3′ end of atpA gene cause male sterile phenotype. This investigation was carried out to find the molecular marker for PET1 cytoplasmic-genetic male sterility system in sunflower. To this end, five male sterile, 24 maintainer and 32 restorer lines were used as genetic materials. The gene sequences for both male sterile and male fertile were extracted from NCBI and upon their alignment, a primer pair was designed based on their different regions. The primer pair amplified a fragment of 182 bp in cytoplasmic male sterile lines, while no amplification in male fertile ones was observed; Thus, the primer is considered as a marker for male sterile cytoplasm. Also it was confirmed that all restorer lines have male sterile cytoplasm. Thus, the primer can be used efficiently in breeding programs of sunflower either in transferring male sterile cytoplasm to elite lines, or in restorer line production and purification.