Molecular analysis of the barley cv. 'Valticky' and its X-ray-derived semidwarf-mutant 'Diamant'

The outstanding semidwarf spring barley cultivar 'Diamant' was derived from the cv. 'Valticky' by X-ray mutagenesis. More than 120 European spring barley varieties trace back to 'Diamant'. This variety and nine German spring barley cultivars having 'Diamant' in their pedigree, as well as four cultivars not related to 'Diamant', were analysed by amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) and simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in order to identify genomic regions associated with traits derived from 'Diamant'. The total number of SSRs tested was 122, of which 88 were polymorphic taking all varieties into account, with 51 for 'Valticky' and 'Diamant', i.e. 42.8%. A varying level of polymorphism was detected on individual chromosomes (11.1-78.6%). In addition, AFLP revealed a high level of polymorphism. Out of the total number of 1591 bands, 670 were polymorphic for all varieties studied with 182 for 'Valticky' and 'Diamant', i.e. 11.4%. Based on SSR and AFLP data UPGMA cluster analysis was carried out, but no grouping according to the relatedness with 'Diamant' or 'Valticky', respectively, was found. It is concluded from these results that the mutagenic effect leading to the development of 'Diamant' out of 'Valticky' affected many genetic loci and is thus larger than expected.