Phenotyping and Genotyping Ril Populations of Peanut for Marker Development.

Phenotyping of structured populations, along with molecular genotyping, is needed for marker development in peanut.  This research is essential for making the peanut genome sequence useful to breeders because it will make the connection between genes, gene markers, genetic maps, and agronomic traits in peanut.  Several structured populations are available, and phenotyping efforts are ongoing.  Sixteen inbred mapping populations have been created using parents that maximize genetic diversity for practical breeding objectives.  First, two modern runner cultivars (Tifrunner and Florida-07) were selected as common parents because runner cultivars account for about 80% of the production in the U.S.  Second, eight unique parents were selected to supply diversity across market classes and botanical varieties and are donors of favorable alleles for enhancing drought tolerance and resistance to most important diseases of peanut in the US.  Phenotyping of two additional RIL populations is ongoing since these are part of the genome sequencing effort.  The T population resulted from the cross of Tifrunner x GT-C20, and the S population resulted from the cross of SunOleic 97R and NC 94022.  Phenotypic data from these genetic resources should result in the identification of genetic markers for numerous economically important traits.