Hybrid purity testing in rice (Oryza sativa L.) using microsatellite markers

Microsatellite markers are useful in fingerprinting, for assessing variation within parental lines and testing the genetic purity of hybrid seed in rice. In this paper we report the identification of pure rice hybrids using microsatellite polymorphisms. Thirty simple sequence repeat microsatellite (SSR) markers were employed for fingerprinting 18 rice hybrids and their parental lines. Twelve SSR markers were found polymorphic across the parents and produced unique fingerprint for the parents. Among the markers RM-17 and RM-84 precisely distinguished between pure hybrids and mixture/off type. Cluster analysis based on Simple matching (SM) similarity coefficient using UPGMA grouped the hybrids into three clusters. The genetic similarity between the hybrids ranged from 0.43 to 0.81 with an average similarity index of 0.63.