Defining the sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) linkage group ends with the Arabidopsis-type telomere sequence repeat-derived markers.

The target region amplification polymorphism (TRAP) marker technique was employed to define sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) linkage group ends. In combination with eight arbitrary primers, nine fixed primers containing the Arabidopsis-type telomere repeat sequences worked successfully in generating polymorphic markers in the mapping population of 92 F(7) recombinant inbred lines (RIL) derived from the cross RHA 280 x RHA 801. This population was used in the construction of the densest sunflower linkage map of 577 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. With 18 sets of PCR reactions, 226 polymorphic TRAP markers were amplified from the two parental lines and 92 RIL. The computer program, Mapmaker, placed 183 markers into the established 17 linkage groups of the SSR map. Although most of the added markers spread across the genome, 32 markers were mapped to the outermost positions of the linkage groups, defining 21 of the 34 linkage group ends of the sunflower linkage map. The telomeric origin of a few of these markers was confirmed by sequence analyses. These telomere-associated markers will provide an accurate assessment of the completeness of a linkage group and a better estimate of the actual genetic lengths. The potential application of the telomere mapping to sunflower improvement is discussed.