This document discusses marker-assisted selection (MAS), which uses DNA markers linked to target genes or quantitative trait loci (QTLs) to assist plant breeding. The key points are:
1. Markers must be tightly linked (less than 5 cM) to the target loci to be reliable indicators for selection. Using flanking markers improves reliability.
2. Markers must also be polymorphic between parental lines to differentiate parental genomes.
3. The general steps in MAS are selecting parents, developing breeding populations, isolating DNA, scoring markers, and correlating markers with traits.
4. MAS accelerates backcrossing by allowing selection based on background markers rather than visual inspection
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