Developing and validating microsatellite markers in elephant grass (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pennisetum purpureum</Emphasis> S.)

Elephant grass [Pennisetum purpureum S.; syn. Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone] is an important global forage crop and is recognized for high yields of herbage with good nutritive value. It also has high biomass potential to be utilized as a biofuel feedstock. Whereas several previous genetic studies adapted simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers from pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.] for investigations in elephant grass, the present study developed SSR markers from 3536 DNA sequences derived from 16 elephant grass entries. A total of 3866 SSRs were identified including 1028 monomeric, 2019 dimeric, 735 trimeric, 49 tetrameric, 20 pentameric and 15 hexameric repeat motifs. Three hundred and seven sequences contained more than one repeated motif, and 154 SSRs were present in compound formation. Susequenctly,  four elephant grass and two pearl millet genotypes were chosen to validate 727 SSR markers. Of these, 628 markers produced visually detectable amplification products, including 73 (11.6%) polymorphic ones across all six genotypes. Polymorphism between the four elephant grass genotypes was revealed by 316 (50.6%) markers with diversity index values ranging from 0.75 to 0.38. Dimeric SSRs had the highest polymorphic rate (48.7%). These validated SSR markers had 58.6% (368 of 628) transferability rate to pearl millet. The availability of these polymorphic SSR markers will support advanced genetic studies in P. purpureum and its relatives.     

Transferability of rice SSR markers to Miscanthus sinensis, a potential biofuel crop

Miscanthus sinensis (M. sinensis) is a perennial C₄ photosynthesis grass, with high yield, high efficiency of water usage, low fertilizer requirement, tolerance to extreme environments, and is one of the plant species with good biofuel potential. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers are highly informative and widely used in plant genetic studies. In this study, 88 SSR primer pairs derived from the rice genome, including 47 EST-SSRs (eSSRs) and 41 genomic SSRs (gSSRs), were evaluated for cross-species transferability to M. sinensis. Forty-one SSR primer pairs in total could successfully amplify DNA fragments in M. sinensis, showing an overall transferability rate of 46.6 % between rice and M. sinensis. The transferability rate of eSSR (51.1 %) was higher than that of gSSR (41.5 %). A total of 140 SSR loci and 340 alleles in the set of rice and M. sinensis germplasm collections were detected. Nei’s gene diversity varied from 0 to 0.72 and averaged 0.35. Shannon’s information index varied from 0 to 1.49 and averaged 0.56. The observed heterozygosity ranged from 0 to 0.95 and averaged 0.08. Thirty-nine loci (27.86 %) were shown heterozygosity out of 140 SSR loci. A dendrogram based on genetic distance showed a significant geographic differentiation. Our results indicated that 46.6% of the rice SSR markers are transferable to M. sinensis, and are useful for germplasm evaluation and genetic analysis in M. sinensis.     

番茄果实EST资源SSR信息分析

表达序列标签( Expressed sequence tags,EST)中存在广泛的微卫星或简单重复序列(Simple sequence repeats,SSR),为SSR标记的开发提供了宝贵的资源.以NCBI中与番茄(Solanum lycopersicum)果实性状相关EST序列为材料,对EST序列进行聚类去冗余、...     

Characterization of dinucleotide and trinucleotide EST-derived microsatellites in the wheat genome

Over the past decade microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) have attracted a considerable amount of attention from researchers. The aim of the present paper was to analyse expressed sequence tag-derived SSR (EST-SSR) marker variability in wheat and to investigate the relationships between the number and type of repeat units and the level of microsatellite polymorphism. Two hundred and forty-one new EST-SSR markers available in a public database () were characterized in eight durum wheat cultivars (Svevo, Ciccio, Primadur, Duilio, Meridiano, Claudio, Latino, Messapia), two accessions of Triticum turgidum var. dicoccoides (MG4343, MG29896), one accession of T. turgidum var. dicoccum (MG5323) and in the common wheat cv. Chinese Spring. Of these, 201 primer pairs (83.4%) amplified PCR products successfully, while the remaining 40 (16.6%) failed to amplify any product. Of the EST-SSRs analysed, 45.2% of the primer pairs amplified one or two PCR products. Multiple discrete PCR products were observed among both di- and trinucleotide EST-SSR markers (31.2 and 40.5%, respectively). Markers based on dinucleotide microsatellites were more polymorphic than those based on trinucleotide SSRs in the 12 wheat genotypes tested (68.9 and 52.7%, respectively). An average of 2.5 alleles for dinucleotide and 2.0 alleles for trinucleotide SSRs was observed. The data reported in the present work indicate the presence of a significant relationship between motif sequence types and polymorphism. The primer set based on the AG repeat motif showed the lowest percentage of polymorphism (55.0%), while the primer set based on the AC repeat motif showed t he highest percentage (85.0%). Among trinucleotide SSRs, the AGG microsatellite markers showed the highest percentage of polymorphism (70.0%), and the ACG motif the lowest value (25.0%). The characterization of these new EST-SSR markers and the results of our studyon the effect of repeat number and type of motifs could have important applications in the genetic analysis of agronomically important traits, quantitative trait locus discovery and marker-assisted selection.     

Construction of an integrated genetic map based on maternal and paternal lineages of tea (Camellia sinensis)

Genetic study on important traits of tea is difficult because of its self-incompatibility in nature. Moreover, development of a new variety usually needs more than 20 years, since it takes many years from seedling to matured plants for trait investigation. Genetic map is an essential tool for genetic study and breeding. In this study, we have developed an integrated genetic map of tea (Camellia sinensis) using a segregating F1 population derived from a cross between two commercial cultivars (‘TTES 19’ and ‘TTES 8’). A total of 574 polymorphic markers (including SSR, CAPS, STS, AFLP, ISSR and RAPD), 69 markers with highly significant levels of segregation distortion (P < 0.001) (12.0 %) were excluded from further analyses. Of the 505 mapped markers, there were 265 paternal markers (52.5 %), 163 maternal markers (32.3 %), 65 doubly heterozygous dominant markers (12.9 %), and 12 co-dominant markers (2.4 %). The co-dominant markers and doubly heterozygous dominant markers were used as bridge loci for the integration of the paternal and maternal maps. The integrated map comprised 367 linked markers, including 36 SSR, 3 CAPS, 1 STS, 250 AFLP, 13 ISSR and 64 RAPD that were assigned to 18 linkage groups. The linkage groups represented a total map length of 4482.9 cM with a map density of 12.2 cM. This genetic map has the highest genetic coverage so far, which could be applied to comparative mapping, QTL mapping and marker assisted selection in the future.     

Fine mapping of the uniform immature fruit color gene u in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

Mottled/uniform color at the flower end of immature fruit is a highly important external quality trait that affects the market value of cucumber. Genetic analysis of different F₂ and backcross populations revealed that one single recessive gene, u (uniform immature fruit color), determines the uniform immature fruit color trait in cucumber. Based on earlier studies, the u locus is located on chromosome 5 (Chr. 5). By combining bulked segregant analysis using 60 published molecular markers on Chr. 5, we found that eight markers are polymorphic and are linked to the u locus. In addition, we developed five new relevant polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers between markers SSR16203 and SSR15818. Subsequently, the F₂ population (477 individuals) from the cross of S06 (uniform fruit color line) × S94 (mottled fruit color line) was used for fine mapping of the u gene. The u gene was mapped to a 313.2-kb region between markers SSR10 and SSR27, at a genetic distance of 0.8 and 0.5 cM, respectively. Moreover, validity analysis of the codominant markers SSR10 and SSR27 was performed using 50 lines with mottled/uniform fruit color, demonstrating that these two SSR markers can be used for marker-assisted selection of the mottled/uniform fruit color trait in cucumber breeding. The results of this study will facilitate the cloning of the u gene.     

苦荞全基因组SSR位点特征分析与分子标记开发

目前苦荞SSR多态性标记数量较少,根据已发表的苦荞基因组测序数据,利用MISA软件对1~6核苷酸重复的SSR位点进行了查找和序列特征分析,批量设计引物并对引物进行了有效性和多态性检测。结果表明,苦荞基因组中共检测到1 640个SSR位点,其中三核苷酸重复型SSR最多,占比63.29%,五核苷酸重复型最少,仅占0.12%。AT/TA、AAG/CTT、ACC/GGT和ATC/GAT为出现频率较高的重复基序。苦荞基因组SSR序列长度变化范围为12~476bp,平均长度23.14bp,长度12~19bp的占比71.71%,长度≥20bp的占比28.29%。根据不同类型SSR位点设计并合成引物479对,选择200对引物对5份苦荞资源和3份甜荞资源进行多态性检测,有56对扩增出多态性条带,17对在苦荞种质中产生多态性条带,48对在甜荞种质中产生多态性条带,9对同时在两种种质中产生多态性条带。利用苦荞全基因组序列可实现SSR标记的批量开发,可鉴定出适用于苦荞和甜荞遗传多样性分析、遗传图谱构建和品种鉴定等研究的SSR引物。     

Microsatellite polymorphism in Pisum sativum

Pisum sativum sequences were retrieved from Genbank/EMBL databases and searched for all possible dinucleotide and trinucleotide tandem repeats. One‐hundred and seventy‐one simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were found among 663 sequences. The different dinucleotide or trinucleotide motifs occurred at varying frequencies. CT/AG was the most frequent dinucleotide, and TCT/AGA the most frequent trinucleotide. Forty‐three microsatellite markers were generated from these sequences and used to assess the genetic variability among 12 pea genotypes. Thirty‐one were polymorphic among the genotypes and the average number of variants per marker was 3.6 when considering only polymorphic markers. Overall, the number of variants for a given SSR marker was correlated with the length of the SSR but some 12‐bp long SSRs showed the same degree of polymorphism as longer ones. The groupings resulting from the SSR genotyping among the 12 genotypes gave an interesting insight into the possible origin of one recent cultivar. Database‐derived SSR markers are highly variable. They can provide useful information on the genetic diversity among P. sativum cultivated types.     

Stability of seed oil quality traits in high and mid-oleic acid sunflower hybrids

Powdery mildew caused by Podosphaera xanthii is an important disease of melon, and race 2F is the predominant race in most areas of China. Resistance to P. xanthii race 2F in melon K7-1 was controlled by a dominant gene, designated Pm-2F, in a 106-member population of recombinant inbred lines derived from K7-1× susceptible K7-2. Using bulked segregant analysis with molecular markers, we have identified two polymorphic simple sequence repeats (SSR) to determine that Pm-2F is located on linkage group II. Comparative genomic analyses using mapped SSR markers and the cucumber genome sequence showed that the melon chromosomal region carrying Pm-2F is homologous to a 288,223 bp genomic region on cucumber chromosome (chr) 1. The SSR markers on chr 1 of cucumber, SSR02734, SSR02733 and CS27 were found linked with Pm-2F. Comparative mapping showed that two SSR markers (SSR02734 and CMBR8) flanked the Pm-2F locus and two nucleotide binding site-leucine-rich repeat resistance genes were identified in the collinear region of cucumber. A cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) marker was developed from the sequence of resistance genes and it delimits the genomic region carrying Pm-2F to 0.8 cM. The evaluation of 165 melon accessions and 13 race differential lines showed that the newly developed CAPS (CAPS-Dde I) marker can be used as a universal marker for effective marker assisted selection in melon powdery mildew resistance breeding. The putative resistance gene cluster provides a potential target site for further fine mapping and cloning of Pm-2F.     

基于甘蔗热带种(LA-purple)全基因组序列的SSR开发及特征分析

现代甘蔗栽培品种(2n = 100~130)是由甘蔗热带种(2n = 80)与割手密(2n = 40~128)种间杂交而来, 形成异源多倍体、非整倍体作物, 使得甘蔗栽培品种中80%~90%的染色体来源于热带种。开发热带种基因组SSR分子标记, 有助于甘蔗遗传多样性分析、分子标记辅助选择、遗传图谱的构建等。本研究基于热带种LA-purple的全基因组测序数据的255 398个预测基因序列(累计总长为1 029 222 285 bp), 利用Perl程序与生物信息学软件结合, 发掘SSR位点, 获得了153 150个SSR位点, 平均每1.67个基因有1个SSR位点, 其中二、三核苷酸重复基序分别为39 556个和50 072个, 占总SSR位点数的58.5%。在二核苷酸重复基序中, TA/AT所占比例最高, 占41.4%, CG/GC所占比例最低, 占4.6%; 在三核苷酸碱基重复基序中, TGT/ACA所占比例最高, 为15.6%。在TA/AT重复类型中选取100个基序重复次数在60~90之间的SSR位点, 进行引物设计与合成, 在12个甘蔗属材料中进行PCR扩增分析, 从中筛选出52对具有多态性SSR引物, 其中有27对引物在研究的2个甘蔗栽培品种间表现为多态。这些基因组SSR标记的开发, 不仅可以用于甘蔗栽培品种DNA指纹图谱分析, 而且为甘蔗属不同种的遗传图谱构建、遗传多样性分析和重要性状的遗传机制解析奠定基础, 为甘蔗分子育种研究提供重要支撑。     

Identification and characterization of EST-SSRs in finger millet (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Eleusine coracana</Emphasis> (L.) Gaertn.)

In recent years, microsatellites have become the most used markers for studying population genetic diversity. The increased availability of the DNA sequences has given the possibility to develop EST-derived SSR markers. A total of 1,927 ESTs of Eleusine coracana available in the NCBI database were mined for SSRs. Di-nucleotides are the most occurring motifs accounting for more than 50% of the repeats, of which GA was the most abundant motif and tetra-nucleotides are the least occurring motifs. Of the 132 markers identified, 30 primer pairs based were synthesized. SSR markers were used for variety discrimination and genetic assessment in 15 finger millet accessions; 20 primers showed polymorphism and 13 primers were identified as having a PIC value above 0.5. On the basis of the distribution of these polymorphic alleles, the 15 accessions were classified into two groups. This study has demonstrated the potential of EST-derived SSR primer pairs in finger millet. These primers will serve as valuable source for further breeding programs.     

Development,characterization and mapping of microsatellite markers for lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.)

Lentil is the sixth most important pulse crop terms of production in the world, but the number of available and mapped SSR markers are limited. To develop SSR markers in lentil, four genomic libraries for (CA)n, (GA)n, (AAC)n and (ATG)n repeats were constructed. A total of 360 SSR primers were designed and validated using 15 Turkish lentil cultivars and genotypes. The most polymorphic repeat motifs were GA and CT, with a mean number of alleles per locus of 7.80 and 6.55, respectively. Seventy‐eight SSR primers amplified a total of 400 polymorphic alleles, whereas 71 SSR primers produced markers within the expected size range. For 78 polymorphic SSR primers, the average number of alleles per locus was 5.1 and PIC value ranged from 0.07 to 0.89, with an average of 0.58. A linkage map was constructed using 92 individual F₂ plants derived from a cross between Karacada? × Silvan, with 47 SSR markers. The SSR markers developed in this study could be used for germplasm classification and identification and mapping of QTL in lentil.     

Genetic diversity in groundnut (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Arachis hypogaea</Emphasis> L.) genotypes and detection of marker trait associations for plant habit and seed size using genomic and genic SSRs

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) an important oilseed crop in India is known to have narrow genetic base. Therefore, the assessment of genetic diversity and detection of marker-trait association are important objectives for the genetic improvement of groundnut. The present study involved the development of 192 SSR markers from Arachis genomic survey sequences. From these, seven polymorphic SSRs along with 15 other genomic SSRs, 19 genic SSRs, and three STS markers were used to detect genetic diversity among 44 groundnut genotypes. These polymorphic SSR markers amplified 155 bands (76 genomic and 79 genic), of these 128 bands (67 genomic and 61 genic) were polymorphic. The genomic SSR exhibited 88.1% and genic SSRs displayed 77.2% allelic polymorphism. The polymorphic information content (PIC) of the markers ranged from 0.04 to 0.95. The pair-wise genetic similarity ranged from 24.2 to 90.7% for genomic SSR and 32.9 to 97.9% for genic SSR markers. Cluster analysis based on the pooled data from both genomic and genic SSRs revealed a dendrogram which could distinguish all the genotypes. Further, the AMOVA analysis detected 16.7% genetic variation due to differences in seed size and 13.0% due to plant habit. Based on locus-by-locus AMOVA and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA and further confirmation by discriminant analysis and general linear model, six markers were found to be associated with plant habit and four markers with seed size.     

Development of novel microsatellite markers for effective applications in Anthurium cultivar identification

Anthurium andraeanum is one of the most economically important floral crops and potted flowers marketed worldwide. Microsatellite markers are currently the preferred molecular marker owing to the many desirable attributes, including hypervariability, codominance, and amenability to high-throughput genotyping; however, there are few polymorphic molecular markers available for Anthurium. The object of this study was to develop and characterize novel microsatellite markers using the Araceae sequences in GenBank of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) to contribute to molecular identification for cultivar protection. Using 1,579 Araceae expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and the related nucleotide sequences, 100 candidates contained simple sequence repeat (SSR) motifs that were suitable for primer design. Furthermore, 100 pairs of SSR primers were screened against a set of 28 diverse genotypes representing 24 cultivars that included four registration cultivars which were bred from the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) and 20 commercial cultivars, appended with three hybrid progeny and a mutant line. From the selected six polymorphic SSR loci, 52 alleles were amplified and 27 distinct genotypes were found, except for ‘Tropical’ and its mutant, with a mean number of eight alleles per locus. The polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.86 to 0.93. Based on these results, we proposed a key identification set using four microsatellite markers that is sufficient to discriminate among 24 cultivars. Because the Anthurium microsatellite markers developed in this study are primarily from expressed sequence tags or related genomic sequences, they can be used for cultivar identification and, accordingly, contribute to genetic evaluations in breeding programs.     

基于转录组测序的槜李EST-SSR标记开发

为开发槜李EST-SSR标记,本研究利用MISA软件筛选了槜李花转录组测序获得的35584条Unigenes,对其SSR信息进行分析后,利用Primer Premier 3.0软件设计EST-SSR引物,并随机选取40对SSR引物对12个李品种进行EST-SSR引物筛选及多态性分析。结果发现,在槜李花转录组中共搜索到个10791个SSR位点,分布于8433条Unigenes,SSR发生频率为23.70%,平均每3.71 kb含有1个SSR;SSR重复基元中二核苷酸重复出现频率最高,占总SSR数量的52.98%,其次为三核苷酸重复(占24.00%)和单核苷酸重复(占20.95%);二核苷酸重复基元以AG/CT为主(85.95%),三核苷酸重复基元以AAG/CTT为主(31.24%)。利用Primer Premier 3.0软件共设计出9870对候选引物,随机选择40对引物对12个李品种进行SSR引物筛选及多态性分析。40对引物均能扩增出预期大小的条带,有效扩增效率为100%,40对引物中有5对引物在12个李品种中表现出多态性。本研究开发的EST-SSR标记可为李属植物遗传多样性分析提供丰富的候选标记,同时可为槜李发育相关功能基因定位、遗传图谱构建、及分子标记辅助育种等研究提供帮助。     

陆地棉SSR标记遗传多样性及其与农艺性状的关联分析

分析陆地棉栽培种遗传多样性,通过关联分析寻找与棉花农艺性状相关联的分子标记,为分子标记辅助选择育种和提高棉花育种效率奠定基础。本文采用74个Simple sequence repeat(SSR)标记对172份陆地棉栽培种的基因组变异进行扫描,使用NTSYS-pc 2.20进行聚类,分析该群体遗传多样性;利用Structure 2.3.4软件分析群体结构,在此基础上结合田间表型数据,采用Tassel 2.1的一般线性模型(General linear model,GLM)进行关联分析,定位与农艺性状相关的QTLs。74个标记共检测到148个多态性位点,涉及246个等位变异,变异范围2~7个,平均等位变异数为3.32;引物的多态性信息含量(PIC)为0.0281~0.3733,平均值为0.2370;遗传相似系数变异在0.2816~1,平均值为0.5369,平均遗传相似系数为0.5369,表明我国陆地棉遗传基础狭窄,尽管国外及西北内陆棉区部分材料具有较丰富的遗传变异。聚类分析将该群体划分为12个亚群,不同棉区的材料交叉分布,且聚类结果基本与系谱吻合。群体结构分析却将172份供试材料划分为3个亚群;通过关联分析,发现30个位点与铃重、衣分、黄萎病抗性显著相关(P0.05),各位点对表型变异贡献率为2.24%~5.27%。     

Simple sequence repeats as useful resources to study transcribed genes of cotton

Microsatellites or Simple Sequence Repeats(SSRs) are informative molecular genetic markers in many crop species. SSRs are PCR-based, highly polymorphic, abundant, widely distributed throughout the genome and inherited in a co-dominant manner in most cases. Here we describe the presence of SSRs in cDNAs of cotton. Thirty one SSR primer pairs of 220 (∼14%) tested led to PCR amplification of discrete fragments using cotton leaf cDNA as template. Sequence analysis showed 25% of 24randomly selected cDNA clones amplified with different SSR primer pairs contained repeat motifs. We further showed that sequences from the SSR-containing cDNAs were conserved across G. barbadense and G. hirsutum, revealing the importance of the SSR markers for comparative mapping of transcribed genes. Data mining for plant SSR-ESTs from the publicly available databases identified SSRs motifs in many plant species,including cotton, in a range of 1.1 to4.8% of the submitted ESTs for a given species. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.