Identification of AFLP markers closely linked to the rhm gene for resistance to Southern Corn Leaf Blight in maize by using bulked segregant analysis.

Southern Corn Leaf Blight (SCLB) is an important disease in warm-temperate and tropical corn-producing areas throughout the world. We applied a combination of the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique and bulked segregant analysis (BSA) to a large F2 population in order to identify molecular markers linked to the rhm gene for resistance to SCLB. One co-dominant AFLP marker, p7m36, was mapped to a position 1.0 cM from rhm, and we converted this marker to an STS (sequence-tagged site) marker. Combined with the previously identified agrP144, this new marker may be useful for map-based cloning of the rhm gene and marker-assisted selection for rhm.