The progeny of a cross between high sucrose sugarcane clone S. officinarum 'Gungera' and a low sucrose clone S. spontaneum 'SES 603' resulted in interspecific hybrids that were named as ISH-1 to ISH-29 and graded on the basis of sucrose content. Hybrids ISH-1, ISH-5, ISH-17 and ISH-23 were selected as very high sucrose (65 to 100 mg/g tissue) genotypes, whereas ISH-10, ISH-11, ISH-12 and ISH-25 were very low sucrose (2 to 25 mg/g tissue) genotypes. DNA from leaves of both the parent clones, as also the progeny hybrids, was amplified using selected primers, in order to identify markers for sucrose content. Ten specific primers were examined: primers 'A' and 'B' that detect polymorphism in promoter region of sucrose synthase-2 gene; primers AI, SS and SPS that were designed on the basis of nucleotide sequences of genes for acid invertase, sucrose synthase and sucrose phosphate synthase enzymes, respectively and primers MSSCIR43, MSSCIRI, SMC226CG, SMC1039CG and SCB07 selected for relation to sucrose accumulation process. DNA products specific to low or high sucrose clones were identified. Primer 'A' and AI amplified DNA products of size 230 and 500 bp, respectively only in high sucrose genotypes ('Gungera', ISH-1, ISH-5, ISH-17 and ISH-23), while primer SMC226CG generated a DNA product of size 920 bp only in low sucrose genotypes ('SES 603', ISH-10, ISH-11, ISH-12 and ISH-25). Ten random decamer primers were also examined, but their products did not show relationship to sucrose content of genotypes.
Keywords: Brix; Invertase; PCR primers; Saccharum; Sucrose synthas; Sugarcane.