RECENT RESEARCH
Restorer breeding in sweet pepper: Introgressing Rf allele from hot pepper through marker-assisted backcrossing
Lack of a strong and stable restorer-of-fertility (Rf) allele in sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) has been a hurdle in commercial exploitation of cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system for cost-effective production of sweet pepper hybrid seeds. A known sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker (CRF-S870) associated with a fertility restoration phenotype (Rf locus) in hot pepper was validated in a strong restorer hot pepper inbred line (AVPP9905). The CRF-S870 marker was successfully used in marker-assisted backcrossing (MAB) to transfer Rf allele from hot pepper line AVPP9905 to several sweet pepper genotypes. The fertility restoration ability of 21 BC4F2 sweet pepper plants obtained through marker-assisted backcrossing was found to be normal, as CMS based plants derived from the backcrossed male plants upon selfing produced a normal amount of fruit with sufficient selfed seeds. The development of restorer lines in sweet pepper is expected to open commercial exploitation of CMS hybrid technology in sweet pepper.
Lin SW, Shieh HC, Wang YW, Tan CW, Schafleitner R, Yang WJ, Kumar S. 2015. Restorer breeding in sweet pepper: Introgressing Rf allele from hot pepper through marker-assisted backcrossing. SCIENTIA HORTICULTURAE, online.
