DEVELOPMENT OF AN AFLP BASED LINKAGE MAP OF LER, COL AND CVI ARABIDOPSIS-THALIANA ECOTYPES AND CONSTRUCTION OF A LER CVI RECOMBINANT INBREDLINE POPULATION/

An amplified fragment polymorphism (AFLP) based linkage map has been g enerated for a new Landsberg erecta/Cape Verde Islands (Ler/Cvi) recom binant inbred line (RIL) population. A total of 321 molecular PCR base d markers and the erects mutation were mapped. AFLP markers were also analysed in the Landsberg erecta/Columbia (Ler/Col) RIL population (Li ster and Dean, 1993) and 395 AFLP markers have been integrated into th e previous Arabidopsis molecular map of 122 RFLPs, CAPSs and SSLPs. Th is enabled the evaluation of the efficiency and robustness of AFLP tec hnology for linkage analyses in Arabidopsis. AFLP markers were found t hroughout the linkage map. The two RIL maps could be integrated throug h 49 common markers which all mapped at similar positions. Comparison of both maps led to the conclusion that segregating bands from a commo n parent can be compared between different populations, and that AFLP bands of similar molecular size, amplified with the same primer combin ation in two different ecotypes, are likely to correspond to the same locus. AFLPs were found clustering around the centromeric regions, and the authors have established the map position of the centromere of ch romosome 3 by a quantitative analysis of AFLP bands using trisomic pla nts. AFLP markers were also used to estimate the polymorphism rate amo ng the three ecotypes. The larger polymorphism rate found between Ler and Cvi compared to Ler and Col will mean that the new RIL population will provide a useful material to map DNA polymorphisms and quantitati ve trait loci.