Development of codominant DNA marker distinguishing pink from blue flowers in Gentiana scabra

Abstract

We reported previously that the pink flower color of Gentiana scabra was caused by the insertion of terminal repeat retrotransposon in miniature (GsTRIM1) within the flavonoid 3',5'-hydroxylase (F3'5'H) gene, encoding a key enzyme for the formation of blue delphinidin pigments. Here, we developed a PCR-based DNA marker that can distinguish the pink- (D^TRIM) from blue-flower genotype (D) by detecting the presence or absence of GsTRIM1 in F3'5'H loci, and evaluated the confidence of this marker using the 179 progenies of blue- x pink-flowered parents. The genotypes determined by the DNA marker completely corresponded with the flower color phenotypes in each progeny. This is the first report about marker-assisted selection in gentian plants.