Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses of plants produced by in vitro anther culture of Solanum chacoense Bitt.

In this study, a novel approach was used to characterize the genetic architecture of plants produced by in vitro anther culture of two lines of self-incompatible Solanum chacoense Bitt. (2n=2x=24). We used cytological observations to determine the ploidy level of the regenerated plants and scanned genomic DNA of the anther donor plants to identify heterozygous sequences. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses permitted the visualization of DNA variations. Several heterozygous DNA markers were found within single anther donor plants. Completely homozygous lines could be easily identified. Somatically derived plants could be separated from diploid plants produced from 2n (unreduced) microspores. Our results demonstrate first division restitution (FDR) as the mechanism operating during the production of 2n microspores in one of our S. chacoense line. Potential applications of RFLP analyses for genetic mapping, identification of lethal alleles and quantitative trait loci (QTL) with haploid or homozygous diploid plants and determination of gene-centromere distance with diploid plants derived from 2n microspores will be discussed.