In order to develop molecular markers related to stay green phenotype, AFLP analysis was conducted using near-isogenic lines for either stay green or non stay green trait. Both lines have characteristics of multi-ear and tillers (MET). Two out of 64 primer combinations of selective amplification identified three reproducible polymorphic fragments in MET corn with stay green. Both of E+AGC/M+CAC and E+AAG/M+CAA primer combinations produced two and one specific polymorphic fragments linked to stay green trait, respectively. For the conversion of AFLPs to sequence tag sites (STSs), primers were designed form both end sequences of each two polymorphic fragments. One fragment, which was amplified with E+AAG/M+CAA primer combinations, possessed 298 bp long and showed a 91~% homology with maize retrotransposon Cinful-l. One out of two polymorphic fragments produced with E+AGC/M+CAC primer combination had 236 bp long and matched a 96~% homology with an intron region of 22kDa alpha zein gene cluster in Zea mays. One out of two PCR fragments amplified with MET2 primer set in the stay green MET was not produced in the non-stay green MET. The developed AFLP and STS marker could be used as an efficient tool for selection of the stay green trait in the MET inbred.

• Cheol Seong Jang
• Hee Bong Lee
• Yong Weon Seo