The Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding

Genetic mapping in lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) has been done on a very limited scale due to nonavailabilty of sufficient number of visible markers. Therefore, about three dozen morphological traits with contrasting phenotypes were identified and several true breeding genetic stocks for each trait drawn from germplasm collection were used to find genes that are genetically linked. Two clusters of four genes each were discovered. Gene symbols were assigned to the new genes. These are: red stem (Gs), brown leaf (Bl), red pod (Rdp), and erect growth habit (Ert) in the first group; and variation in intensity of leaf colour (GI), plant height (Ph), development of pubescence (Pub), and number of leaflets per leaf (Hl) in the other. Linkage studies revealed two short maps comprising these genes: 1) Gs-Bl-Rdp-Ert with a total map distance of 33.9 cM in coupling phase and 41.2 cM in repulsion phase; and 2) Ph-Gl-Pub-Hl spanning over 37.2 cM in coupling phase.