Candidate markers assay for Capsicum pungency

Effectiveness of candidate markers for differentiating the pungent, slightly pungent and non-pungent chilli lines and their use in marker assisted selection programmes was assessed. Two pungent C. annuum, one pungent C. chinense, two pungent C. frutescens, one non-pungent C. annuum, two non-pungent C. annuum var. grossum and two slightly pungent C. annuum var. acuminatum cultivars were analysed using MAP1 marker for locus Pun1, CS and B markers for locus CS, Pun1¹ marker for locus Pun1 of C. annuum and Pun1³ marker for locus Pun1 of C. frutescens. This paper discusses the universal suitability of these candidate markers in MAS programmes for levels of pungency in Capsicum. Through sequencing of markers it is further shown that the proposed CS gene lies within the Pun1 locus and since Pun1 markers are missing in non-pungent and slightly pungent lines, we propose that genes other than Pun1 are involved in pungency mechanism in Capsicum spp.