Background:
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is an important oil crop only after
soybean, canola and peanuts. A high-quality genetic map is the foundation of marker-assisted
selection (MAS). However, for this species, the high-density maps have been reported limitedly.
Objective:
In this study, we proposed the construction of a high-density genetic linkage map by the
F7 population of sunflowers using SNP and SSR Markers.
Methods:
The SLAF-seq strategy was employed to further develop SNP markers with SSR
markers to construct the high-density genetic map by the HighMap software.
Results:
A total of 1,138 million paired-end reads (226Gb) were obtained and 518,900 SLAFs
were detected. Of the polymorphic SLAFs, 2,472,245 SNPs were developed and finally, 5,700
SNPs were found to be ideal to construct a genetic map after filtering. The final high-density
genetic map included 4,912 SNP and 93 SSR markers distributed in 17 linkage groups (LGs) and
covered 2,425.05 cM with an average marker interval of 0.49 cM.
Conclusion:
The final result demonstrated that the SLAF-seq strategy is suitable for SNP markers
detection. The genetic map reported in this study can be considered as one of the most highdensity
genetic linkage maps of sunflower and could lay a foundation for quantitative trait loci
(QTLs) fine mapping or map-based gene cloning.
Genome-wide SNP discovery and genetic linkage map construction in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) using a genotyping by sequencing (GBS) approach
