MAPPING THE FAN LOCUS CONTROLLING LINOLENIC ACID CONTENT IN SOYBEAN OIL

Reducing the content oi linolenic acid to improve soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] oil quality is a desirable breeding objective, An F-2 pop ulation derived from a cross between a low linolenic mutant, C1640 (fa nfan), and a high linolenic accession, PI 479.750 (FanFan) was used to map the Fan locus. Because linolenic acid seemed to be inherited as a quantitative trait in this cross, MapMaker-QTL was used to place Fan dose to RFLP markers pB194-1 and pB124 on linkage group B2. localizati on of this locus to the soybean genetic map may be useful for molecula r biologists interested in cloning the gene or for geneticists interes ted in identifying modifying genes.