Marker Systems

Key to successful marker-assisted selection is the implementation of marker systems that can reliably indicate the presence of a desirable allele for a target gene in the germplasm the breeder is using. Many factors can influence both the technical performance and biological accuracy of a marker. The marker systems here have been designed based on the best available knowledge of positive and negative allelic diversity to give the best predictive accuracy across all the diversity of Oryza sativa. This means they will be accurate for genotyping of the favorable allele no matter what the genomic background used in individual breeding programs. Surrounding polymorphisms have also been taken into account during primer design, such that markers should perform equally well across all rice material. Further information on individual markers for a gene are available on the linked documents.