Comparative genome mapping of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench using an RFLP map constructed in a population of recombinant inbred lines

A restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) linkage map of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench was constructed in a population of 137 F_6-8 recombinant inbred lines using sorghum, maize, oat, barley and rice DNA clones. The map consists of 10 linkage groups (LGs) and 323 markers, 247 of which (76.5%) were ordered at a LOD score ≥ 3.0. The LGs comprise from 61 (LG A) to 13 markers (J), which range in length from 205 (A) to 55 cM (J) and have a combined total length of 1347 cM. Highly significant distorted segregation was detected at all of the 38 loci in a 103-cM segment of LG A, the allelic ratios in the segment ranging from approximately 3:1 (one end) to 19:1 (middle) to 2:1 (other end). Duplicated loci located in different LGs have been mapped with 55 of the 295 DNA probes used in the study (18.6%). The distribution of these loci does not provide support for the hypothesis that Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench is of tetraploid origin. Comparison of the map with RFLP maps of maize, rice, and oat produced evidence for sorghum-maize LG rearrangements and homoeologies not reported previously, including evidence that: (1) a segment of maize 5L and a segment of 5S may be homoeologous to sorghum LGA; (2) maize LGs 4 and 6 are partly homoeologous to sorghum LGE; (3) the short arm of maize LG 2 is partly homoeologous to sorghum LGF; (4) maize LG 4 may be partly homoeologous to sorghum LG G; (5) maize LG 5 and sorghum LG G contain a larger amount of homoeologous genetic material than previously indicated; and (6) a short segment of maize LG 1 may be homoeologous to a short segment of sorghum LG I.