CELLULAR & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY LETTERS Volume 8, (2003) pp 185 – 193 http://www.cmbl.org.pl Received 16 November 2002 Accepted 18 February 2003 * Corresponding author, E-mail: tmol.ob@ihar.edu.pl Abbreviations used: AFLP - Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism, cms - cytoplasmic male sterility, RAPD - Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA, RFLP - Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism, SSR - Simple Sequence Repeat, UPGMA - unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages TESTING CMS-P-LINKED AFLPs FOR SELECTION OF RYE HYBRID COMPONENTS PIOTR TOMASZ BEDNAREK 1 *, ANNA DĄBKOWSKA 1 , IRENA KOLASIŃSKA 2 and PAWEŁ KRAJEWSKI 3 1 Botanical Garden – Center for Biological Diversity Conservation PAS, Prawdziwka 2, 02-973 Warszawa, Poland, 2 Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute, Radzików, 05-870 Błonie, Poland, 3 Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Strzeszyńska 34, Poznań, Poland Abstract: Application of AFLPs linked to pollen fertility restoration and non- performing genes evaluated in the C394-F2 hybrid was studied using a set of male sterile lines in the sterilising Pampa cytoplasm, several restorers and maintainer lines and, finally, two inbred lines backcrossed into cms-P, cms-R, cms-S and cms-C cytoplasms each. The set of male sterile lines based on the Pampa cytoplasm exhibited gradual variation in their ability to restore pollen fertility (starting from low and closing with high) in crosses with three unrelated restorers. Variations in the AFLPs between the analysed materials were observed, however, no clustering of the lines according to their sterile and fertile phenotypes was observed. The same markers, when applied to the population restorer (cv. Walet) that formed the C394-F2 cross permitted identification of plants with genotypes that could be recognized as restorers. Key Words: AFLPs, cms-P, PAMPA, Secale cereale L., Inbred Lines, Pollen Fertility Restoration, MAS, cms-C, cms-R, cms-S INTRODUCTION It is becoming evident that further increase in grain yield using conventional breeding and selection among open-pollinated populations of rye ( Secale cereale L.) has reached its limits. However, development of new rye hybrids may