Pepper is one of the most important vegetable crops in the Solanaceae family. Although the complete genome sequence has been reported and genetic studies have been performed for many important traits in pepper, a broader range of genetic resources for breeding and functional genomics studies are still required. Therefore, we developed mutant populations using radiation and an optimized a TILLING system for the efficient screening of target mutants. A mutation population which consisted of 4,176 M2 and 414 M3 individuals was developed from 'Yuwolcho', a pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Korean landrace that has early-flowering characteristics, using gamma-rays and/or a carbon ion beam irradiation. We also developed an M2 population that consisted of 1,666 individuals of 'Habanero', a Capsicum chinense cultivar which is famous for its extreme pungency, to provide useful material for practical breeding and the production of functional materials. For efficient and less labour-intensive screening of mutants carrying mutations on the target gene, we optimized a TILLING system based on capillary electrophoresis. Using this system, the screening of the mutants in 4-16 x pools is possible according to the length of the target sequence (4x for 1,872 bp and 16x for 672 bp amplicons) without using any acrylamide gel nor labelled primers. We confirmed applicability of this system to a subset of ‘Yuwolcho’ mutation population which consisted of 2,060 M2 and 384 M3 lines. By investigating the phenotypes and applying a TILLING technique to the radiation mutation population, we are screening useful genetic variants in pepper.
|Country or International Organization||Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute|