Molecular markers based on sequence variation in BoFLC1.C9 for characterizing early- and late-flowering cabbage genotypes

BACKGROUND: Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) is popular worldwide for consumption as a leafy vegetable. Premature flowering is triggered by low temperature, and deteriorates quality of cabbage as vegetable. In general, growers prefer late-flowering varieties to assure good quality compact head. Here, we report BoFLC1.C9 as a gene with clear sequence variation between cabbage lines with different flowering times, and proposed as molecular marker to characterize early- and late-flowering cabbage lines. RESULTS: We identified sequence variation of 67 bp insertions in intron 2, which were contributed in flowering time variation between two inbred lines through rapid down-regulation of the BoFLC1.C9 gene in early-flowering line compared to late-flowering one upon vernalization. One set of primer ‘F7R7’ proposed as marker, of which was explained with 83 and 80% of flowering time variation in 141 F(2) individuals and 20 commercial lines, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This F7R7 marker could be used as genetic tools to characterize flowering time variation and to select as well to develop early- and late-flowering cabbage cultivars. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12863-019-0740-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.