Allelism between the P and Stp Genes for Seedcoat Color and Pattern in Common Bean

Abstract

The P locus in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) can express complete absence of color (white) in seedcoats and flowers with p (with B V) or a pale grayish white seedcoat and nearly white flower with pgri, but P has never been considered a seedcoat pattern locus. Genes controlling seedcoat colors and patterns have been backcrossed into the recurrent parent 5-593 with black seedcoats and violet flowers. The cross, p BC3 5-593 × t stpmic BC3 5-593 (black seeds with a long white micropyle stripe and fibula arcs), failed to show evidence of genetic complementation in either F1 or F2 progeny, leading to the hypothesis that P and Stp are allelic. Five cross combinations between two recessive P alleles (p BC3 5-593 and pgri BC3 5-593) and three recessive alleles at the stippled seedcoat gene Stp (stp BC3 5-593, stphbw BC3 5-593, and stpmic BC3 5-593) expressed no genetic complementation in seedcoats and flowers of F1 progeny and confirmed the allelism hypothesis. New gene symbols are proposed for the recessive alleles at Stp, viz., pstp for stp, phbw for stphbw and pmic for stpmic. The dominance order at P is P > pmic > phbw > pstp > pgri > p. Crosses were made between t self-colored BC3 5-593 and three other parents—pstp BC3 5-593, phbw BC3 5-593, and pmic BC3 5-593—to explore interactions between the pattern genes T and P; and segregation for seedcoat patterns in F2 was discussed. The hypothesis was proposed that the T locus regulates expression at P, or the biosynthetic step regulated by P.