Prediction of heterosis for grain yield in rice using ‘key’ informative EST‐SSR markers

With 2 tablesAbstract This study was undertaken to assess the comparative potential of 25 Expressed Sequence Tag derived simple sequence repeats (EST‐SSRs) and 25 genomic SSRs in the prediction of grain yield heterosis using a set of nine cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines and 32 restorer lines of rice. EST‐SSRs and genomic SSRs exhibited an average Polymorphism Information Content value of 0.37 and 0.45, respectively. The coefficient of marker polymorphism among parental lines with respect to a set of hypervariable EST and genomic SSRs was correlated with standard heterosis for grain yield of six public bred rice hybrids. EST‐SSRs gave a better correlation (r = 0.75) as compared with genomic SSRs (r = 0.09). When 10 ‘key’ informative EST‐SSR markers which showed a higher positive correlation with grain yield heterosis were validated in a new set of 14 experimental hybrids, the markers exhibited a higher correlation (r = 0.79), indicating the predictive value of these EST‐SSRs. We recommend these 10 ‘key’ informative EST‐SSR markers for analysis of genetic diversity of parental lines and prediction of heterosis in hybrid rice breeding programmes.