Verification of the introgression of Erianthus arundinaceus germplasm into sugarcane using molecular markers

Abstract

Erianthus arundinaceus has a number of important agronomic traits including good ratooning ability, tolerance to both drought and water logging, disease resistance and vigour and is of interest as a potential source of parental germplasm to sugarcane breeders. However, to date, attempts to produce fertile hybrids between sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) and E. arundinaceus have been unsuccessful. Microsatellite markers that generated genus-specific markers and were highly polymorphic within sugarcane were identified. The microsatellite markers and 5S rDNA PCR were used to screen intergeneric (F 1 ) clones from Saccharum officinarum · E. arundinaceus crosses, and two Saccharum backcross progeny (BC 1 ) populations derived from crosses between selected F 1 clones and sugarcane (Saccharum spp.), to identify genuine Saccharum spp. BC 1 progeny. The 5S rDNA PCR marker and highly polymorphic microsatellites with Erianthus-specific bands confirmed the F 1 parent of the two putative BC 1 populations was a S. officinarum · E. arundinaceus hybrid and allowed the identification of the genuine BC 1 progeny from selfs of the F 1 parent. This is the first verification of BC 1 progeny from an F 1 intergeneric hybrid · sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) clone with molecular markers and confirms the introgression of E. arundinaceus germplasm into sugarcane. It should now be possible to exploit genes of value from E. arundinaceus in sugarcane breeding programmes.

Engineering Advantages, Challenges and Status of Grass Energy Crops

“…This makes it an excellent source of a number of valuable genes (Mukherjee 1950;Panje and Babu 1960;Panje 1972;Roach 1978). Through the use of photoperiod facilities, Saccharum hybrids can also be crossed successfully with their close relatives Erianthus (Cai et al 2005) and Miscanthus (Lo et al 1986). Success with these crosses has further expanded the genetic diversity of this crop, and should open the door to further improvements in production efficiency.…”

Sugarcane Genetics and Genomics

“…However, hybrids formed with E. arundinaceus do not readily produce progeny; the few true hybrids are difficult to classify using classical cytogenetic techniques. Molecular methods, on the other hand, including species-specific DNA markers and FISH, have been used to identify true hybrids and follow E. arundinaceus genes introgressed into Saccharum (D'Hont et al 1995;Alix et al 1998Alix et al , 1999Piperidis & D'Hont 2001;Cai et al 2005;Jing et al 2009). Species chromosome composition of intergeneric hybrids involving Erianthus and Miscanthus and chromosome eliminations in Saccharum × E. arundinaceus hybrids have been visualized using FISH (D'Hont et al 1995;Piperidis & D'Hont 2001).…”

Genetic Adjustment to Changing Climates: Sugarcane

“…Jeswiet has been targeted as having a number of traits desired by sugarcane breeders including good ratooning performance, tolerance to environmental stresses, vigor, and disease resistance (Berding and Roach 1987). Fertile hybrids between Saccharum and Erianthus have been produced (Cai et al 2005), but so far there are no reports of contribution to commercial sugarcane cultivars.…”