AFLP markers linked to Eastern filbert blight resistance from OSU 408.040 hazelnut

Eastern filbert blight (EFB), caused by Anisogramma anomala (Peck) E. Muller, is a devastating disease to european hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) orchards in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Selection OSU 408.040 showed no symptoms or signs of the fungus following greenhouse inoculations, and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays (ELI-SAs) were negative. Segregation ratios in three progenies indicate that a single dominant gene controls the resistance. A total of 64 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) primer combinations were screened using three resistant and three susceptible individuals as well as the parents of the cross OSU 245.098 x OSU 408.040. Primer combinations that showed no more than one recombinant in these six seedlings were investigated in 30 additional seedlings. Markers that showed < 15% recombination with resistance were amplified in the remaining seedlings of the population. Five AFLP markers linked in coupling to resistance were identified. B2-125 was located on one side of the resistance locus at a distance of 4.1 centimorgans (cM), while A4-265 (9.2 cM), C2-175 (5.9 cM) and D8-350 (2.5 cM) were on the other side, and A8-150 cosegregated with resistance. Three of these markers (B2-125, C2-175, and D8-350) were also linked in coupling in a similar order in seedlings from a second progeny. These markers may be useful in marker-assisted selection for eastern filbert blight resistance from hazelnut selection OSU 408.040.