Bradley et al (1997) discovered a transcription factor with homology to mammalian phosphatidylethanolamine binding proteins (PEBPs) mutations in which gave the terminal flower phenotype in Arabidopsis. Mutations in orthologous genes were subsequently shown to underly the determinate growth habit in several other plant species, inlcuding pea (Foucher et al, 2003). This prompted Avila et al, 2006 to isolate a faba bean homologue of TFL and search for SNPs that correlated with the determinate growth habit. The polymorphism on which the assay reported here is based is that reported by Avila et al, 2007. The G to T corresponding to an amino acid change at position 9 (Leu-9 to Arg - corresponding to base 26 in the alignment provided below) is the only polymorphism which differentiates between determinate growth habit and wild type genotypes. The assay correctly picks out an inbred line from Polish variety 'Granit' (V17A) as the only additional determinate line in our diverse test panel (see genotype data below).

Avila C, Atienza S, Moreno M, Torres A (2007) Development of a new diagnostic marker for growth habit selection in faba bean (Vicia faba L.) breeding. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 115:1075-1082.

Avila CM, Nadal S, Moreno MT, Torres AM (2006) Development of a simple PCR-based marker for the determination of growth habit in Vicia faba L. using a candidate gene approach. Molecular Breeding 17:185-190.

Bradley D, Ratcliffe O, Vincent C, Carpenter R, Coen E (1997) Inflorescence Commitment and Architecture in Arabidopsis. Science 275:80-83.

Foucher F, Morin J, Courtiade J, Cadioux S, Ellis N, Banfield MJ, Rameau C (2003) DETERMINATE and LATE FLOWERING Are Two TERMINAL FLOWER1/CENTRORADIALIS Homologs That Control Two Distinct Phases of Flowering Initiation and Development in Pea. Plant Cell 15:2742-2754.

Tian Z, Wang X, Lee R, Li Y, Specht JE, Nelson RL, McClean PE, Qiu L, Ma J (2010) Artificial selection for determinate growth habit in soybean. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107:8563-8568.