'Plant Breeding: Sustaining the Future' Abstracts of the XVIth EUCARPIA Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland, 10-14 September 2001 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MOLECULAR MARKERS FOR USE IN A RIBES BREEDING PROGRAMME R.M. BRENNAN, J. RUSSELL, L. JORGENSEN Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, Scotland

The breeding of commercially suitable cultivars of Ribes nigrum (blackcurrant) cultivars has relied to date on conventional methodology, through recurrent selection of elite phenotypes and backcrossing.  By such means, genes for pest resistance have been introgressed from other Ribes species, but selection of resistant plants has remained a time-consuming process.  Recent work at SCRI has identified AFLP markers linked to resistance to blackcurrant gall mite (Cecidophyopsis ribis) controlled by the gene Ce, and the development of appropriate deployment strategies is in progress.  Through such means, the selection of resistant plants should be expedited.  From this initial work, the emphasis has now moved to the development of SSR markers linked to a range of important traits for use in the SCRI Ribes breeding programme.