[A SCAR marker for resistance to Aspergillus flavus in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)]

Aflatoxin contamination is an important constraint to peanut (Archis hypogaea L. ) industry worldwide. Genetic improvement for host resistance in peanut to fungal infection and aflatoxin (Aspergillus flavus) production is among the approaches for integrated management of the problem. However, the progress in peanut breeding for resistance to aflatoxin is slow due to various reasons, among which, lack of cost-effective method for resistance identification in breeding materials or segregating progenies has been encountered in most breeding programs. Hence there is a need to develop a rapid and reliable screening method for selecting A. flavus infection resistance in peanut. Here we report a SCAR (Sequence characterized Amplified Region) marker "AFs-412" converted from AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) marker "E45/M53-440" which closely linked with resistance to A. flavus infection. Twenty peanut genotypes with resistance to infection of A. flavus were used to verify the reliability of the resistance markers, and high correlation between the molecular markers and the resistance result. The result shows that the potential of the markers which can be used in other resistant peanut genotypes to seed infection by Aspergillus flavus.