Genetic analysis and molecular mapping of a yellow green leaf gene (YGL4) in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

A leaf color mutant was obtained by EMS treating seeds of restorer line Jinhui 10,this mutation showed complete yellow green leaves during the life,and could be regenerated and inherited stably according to the observation of 5 generations.The content of its total chlorophyll ranged from 2.01 to 2.28 mg g-1,which was only 38.2%to 50.5%of the original parent.Compared with the original parent,the mutation had no significant difference in the traits of main panicle length,first branch number,filled grain number of main panicle,seed setting rate and 1000-grain weight,except the effective panicle and plant height which were decreased significantly.Genetic analysis of F2 populations confirmed that the mutational character was controlled by a single recessive nuclear gene,temporarily designated as YGL4.The gene was mapped between two microsatellite markers RM3123 and RM590,with genetic distances of 7.6 and 7.8 cM to the two markers respectively.New microsatellite markers were designed between RM3123 and RM590,and the YGL4 gene was final mapped between RM1162 and RM7093,with genetic distances of 1.8 and 4.0 cM to each of them respectively.This result provided a foundation of molecular marker-assisted breeding and map-based cloning of YGL4 gene.