Develpoment of molecular genetic resources for the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha III <EST information and genetic map>

Abstract

Liverworts, including Marchantia polymorpha, are extant species of the first land plant and have simpler body plan than flowering plants. Most of the life cycle of M. polymorpha is haploid and dioecious (n=8+X/Y). To establish M. polymorpha as a model plant for molecular genetics, we have been developing requisite experimental, genetic and genomic resources. We constructed about 130,000 full-length cDNA clones, and got about 260,000 EST reads. The number of clusters was 27,000. Moreover, since a genetic map facilitates, we constructed a linkage map based on DNA polymorphisms between two standard laboratory lines, Takaragaike-1 (male) and Kitashirakawa-2 (female). We have already mapped >100 DNA markers. The genetic map consists of eight linkage groups, which is consistent with the number of the autosomes. Total length of the linkage groups is >800 cM.