Selection strategies for marker-assisted backcrossing with high-throughput marker systems

Application of marker-assisted backcrossing for gene introgression is still limited by the high costs of marker analysis. High-throughput (HT) assays promise to reduce these costs, but new selection strategies are required for their efficient implementation in breeding programs. The objectives of our study were to investigate the properties of HT marker systems compared to single-marker (SM) assays, and to develop optimal selection strategies for marker-assisted backcrossing with HT assays. We employed computer simulations with a genetic model consisting of 10 chromosomes of 160 cM length to investigate the introgression of a dominant target gene. We found that a major advantage of HT marker systems is that they can provide linkage maps with equally spaced markers, whereas the possibility to provide linkage maps with high marker densities smaller than 10 cM is only of secondary use in marker-assisted backcrossing. A three-stage selection strategy that combines selection for recombinants at markers flanking the target gene with SM assays and genome-wide background selection with HT markers in the first backcross generation was more efficient than genome-wide background selection with HT markers alone. Selection strategies that combine SM and HT assays were more efficient than genome-wide background selection with HT assays alone. This result was obtained for a broad range of cost ratios of HT and SM assays. A further considerable reduction of the costs could be achieved if the population size in the first backcross generation was twice the population size in generations BC2 and BC3 of a three-generation backcrossing program. We conclude that selection strategies combining SM and HT assays have the potential to greatly increase the efficiency and flexibility of marker-assisted backcrossing.