High-density linkage maps for Citrus sunki and Poncirus trifoliata using DArTseq markers

Abstract

The construction of a high-resolution genetic map of citrus would be of great value to breeders and to associate genomic regions with characteristics of agronomic interest. Here, we describe a novel high-resolution map of citrus using a population derived from a controlled cross between Citrus sunki (female parent) and Poncirus trifoliata (male parent). The genetic linkage maps were constructed using DArTseq markers and a pseudo-testcross strategy; only markers showing the expected segregation ratio were considered. To investigate synteny, all markers from both linkage maps were aligned with the genome of Citrus sinensis. The C. sunki map has a total of 2778 molecular markers and a size of 2446.6 cM, distributed across ten linkage groups. The map of P. trifoliata was built with 3084 markers distributed in a total of nine linkage groups, with a total size of 2411.6 cM. These maps are the most saturated linkage maps available for C. sunki and P. trifoliata and have high genomic coverage. We also demonstrated that the maps reported here are closely related to the reference genome of C. sinensis.