Microsatellite markers from sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) ESTs cross transferable to erianthus and sorghum

Analysis of a sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) EST (expressed sequence tag) library of 8678 sequences revealed approximately 250 microsatellite or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) sequences. A diversity of dinucleotide and trinucleotide SSR repeat motifs were present although most were of the (CGG)_n trinucleotide motif. Primer sets were designed for 35 sequences and tested on five sugarcane genotypes. Twenty-one primer pairs produced a PCR product and 17 pairs were polymorphic. Primer pairs that produced polymorphisms were mainly located in the coding sequence with only a single pair located within the 5′ untranslated region. No primer pairs producing a polymorphic product were found in the 3′ untranslated region. The level of polymorphism (PIC value) in cultivars detected by these SSRs was low in sugarcane (0.23). However, a subset of these markers showed a significantly higher level of polymorphism when applied to progenitor and related genera (Erianthus sp. and Sorghum sp.). By contrast, SSRs isolated from sugarcane genomic libraries amplify more readily, show high levels of polymorphism within sugarcane with a higher PIC value (0.72) but do not transfer to related species or genera well.     

Characterization and compilation of polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers of peanut from public database

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: There are several reports describing thousands of SSR markers in the peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) genome. There is a need to integrate various research reports of peanut DNA polymorphism into a single platform. Further, because of lack of uniformity in the labeling of these markers across the publications, there is some confusion on the identities of many markers. We describe below an effort to develop a central comprehensive database of polymorphic SSR markers in peanut. FINDINGS: We compiled 1,343 SSR markers as detecting polymorphism (14.5%) within a total of 9,274 markers. Amongst all polymorphic SSRs examined, we found that AG motif (36.5%) was the most abundant followed by AAG (12.1%), AAT (10.9%), and AT (10.3%).The mean length of SSR repeats in dinucleotide SSRs was significantly longer than that in trinucleotide SSRs. Dinucleotide SSRs showed higher polymorphism frequency for genomic SSRs when compared to trinucleotide SSRs, while for EST-SSRs, the frequency of polymorphic SSRs was higher in trinucleotide SSRs than in dinucleotide SSRs. The correlation of the length of SSR and the frequency of polymorphism revealed that the frequency of polymorphism was decreased as motif repeat number increased. CONCLUSIONS: The assembled polymorphic SSRs would enhance the density of the existing genetic maps of peanut, which could also be a useful source of DNA markers suitable for high-throughput QTL mapping and marker-assisted selection in peanut improvement and thus would be of value to breeders. KEYWORDS: SSR, motif, polymorphism, cultivated peanut.     

茶树EST-SSRs分布特征及引物开发

为了在茶树中开发EST-SSRs功能性标记,利用生物信息学方法对NCBI网上公开的3288奈茶树（Camellia subebsus）ESTs序列进行EST-SSRs特征分析。剔除冗余序列,得到非冗余序列2083条。在非冗余序列中发现含不同重复基元SSRs的EST序列有385条,共486个EST-SSRs,平均相隔2．10kb出现1个SSR。在2～6bp的重复基元中,二核苷酸重复基元的SSRs出现频率最高（51．97％）,其次是三核苷酸（19．55％）。对所有的重复基元类型进行统计分析发现,所占比例最高的是AG／CT（47．74％）,其次分别是AT／TA（4．73％）和AAG／CTT（4．73％）。利用Prime5软件,设计了206对EST-SSRs引物,随机选用72对引物进行SSR扩增,发现31对引物可以扩增出条带,其中29对引物具有多态性,多态性比率为93．5％。这些EST-SSRs将有助于茶树基因组学方面的研究。     

甘薯与牵牛EST资源的SSR信息分析

为挖掘番薯（Ipomoea）属EST-SSR资源,从NCBI数据库下载23406条甘薯（Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.）EST和62282条牵牛（Ipomoea nil (L.) Roth）EST,利用生物信息学软件预处理、去冗余、拼接处理后得到12812条无冗余的甘薯EST（6.70 Mb）和28422条牵牛唯一序列（17.19 Mb）。对这些序列进行SSR搜索,在甘薯上获得328个SSR位点,发生频率为2.56%;牵牛上筛选到962个SSR位点,出现频率为3.38%。甘薯和牵牛EST-SSR具有多个共同特征：在SSR位点中,主要是二核苷酸重复类型,其次是三核苷酸重复;在二核苷酸重复中,出现最多的重复基序为AG/CT,其次是AT/AT;在三核苷酸重复中,主要基序是AAG/CCT;SSR位点的长度主要集中在20~22 bp。结果表明,这些搜索出的EST-SSR重复基序类型丰富、多态性潜能高,具有较高的开发和利用价值。     

In silico mining for simple sequence repeat loci in a pineapple expressed sequence tag database and cross-species amplification of EST-SSR markers across Bromeliaceae

A collection of 5,659 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.] was screened for simple sequence repeats (EST-SSRs) with motif lengths between 1 and 6 bp. Lower thresholds of 15, 7 and 5 repeat units were used to define microsatellites of the mono-, di-, and tri- to hexanucleotide repeat type, respectively. Based on these criteria, 696 SSRs were identified among 3,389 EST unigenes, together representing 2,840 kb. This corresponds to an average density of one SSR every 4.1 kb of non-redundant EST sequences. Dinucleotide repeats were most abundant (38.4% of all SSRs) followed by trinucleotide repeats (38.1%). Flanking primer pairs were designed for 537 EST-SSR loci, and 49 of these were screened for their functionality in 12 accessions of A. comosus, 14 accessions of 5 additional Ananas species and 1 species of Pseudananas. Distinct PCR products of the expected size range were obtained with 36 primer pairs. Eighteen loci analyzed in more detail were all polymorphic in pineapple, and primer pairs flanking these loci also generated PCR products from a wide range of genera and species from six subfamilies of the Bromeliaceae. The potential to reveal polymorphism in a heterologous target species was demonstrated in Deuterocohnia brevifolia (subfamily Pitcairnioideae).     

Allelic diversity of simple sequence repeats among elite inbred lines of cultivated sunflower.

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were developed for cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) from the DNA sequences of 970 clones isolated from genomic DNA libraries enriched for (CA)n,, (CT)n, (CAA)n, (CATA)n, or (GATA)n. The clones harbored 632 SSRs, of which 259 were unique. SSR markers were developed for 130 unique SSRs by designing and testing primers for 171 unique SSRs. Of the total, 74 SSR markers were polymorphic when screened for length polymorphisms among 16 elite inbred lines. The mean number of alleles per locus was 3.7 for dinucleotide, 3.6 for trinucleotide, and 9.5 for tetranucleotide repeats and the mean polymorphic information content (PIC) scores were 0.53 for dinucleotide, 0.53 for trinucleotide, and 0.83 for tetranucleotide repeats. Cluster analyses uncovered patterns of genetic diversity concordant with patterns produced by RFLP fingerprinting. SSRs were found to be slightly more polymorphic than RFLPs. Several individual SSRs were significantly more polymorphic than RFLP and other DNA markers in sunflower (20% of the polymorphic SSR markers had PIC scores ranging from 0.70 to 0.93). The newly developed SSRs greatly increase the supply of sequence-based DNA markers for DNA fingerprinting, genetic mapping, and molecular breeding in sunflower; however, several hundred additional SSR markers are needed to routinely construct complete genetic maps and saturate the genome.     

Development, characterization, and comparative analysis of polymorphism at common bean SSR loci isolated from genic and genomic sources.

Microsatellites or SSRs (single sequence repeats) have been used to construct and integrate genetic maps in crop species, including Phaseolus vulgaris. In the present study, 3 cDNA libraries generated by the Bean EST project (http://lgm.esalq.usp.br/BEST/), comprising a unigene collection of 3126 sequences and a genomic microsatellite-enriched library, were analyzed for the presence of SSRs. A total of 219 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were found to carry 240 SSRs (named EST-SSR), whereas 714 genomic sequences contained 471 SSRs (named genomic-SSR). A subset of 80 SSRs, 40 EST-SSRs, and 40 genomic-SSRs were evaluated for molecular polymorphism in 23 genotypes of cultivated beans from the Mesoamerican and Andean genetic pools, including Brazilian cultivars and 2 related species. Of the common bean genotypes, 31 EST-SSR loci were polymorphic, yielding 2-12 alleles as compared with 26 polymorphic genomic-SSRs, accounting for 2-7 alleles. Cluster analysis from data using both genic and genomic-SSR revealed a clear separation between Andean and Mesoamerican beans. The usefulness of these loci for distinguishing bean genotypes and genetic mapping is discussed.     

Development and Characterization of Polymorphic EST-SSR and Genomic SSR Markers for Tibetan Annual Wild Barley

Tibetan annual wild barley is rich in genetic variation. This study was aimed at the exploitation of new SSRs for the genetic diversity and phylogenetic analysis of wild barley by data mining. We developed 49 novel EST-SSRs and confirmed 20 genomic SSRs for 80 Tibetan annual wild barley and 16 cultivated barley accessions. A total of 213 alleles were generated from 69 loci with an average of 3.14 alleles per locus. The trimeric repeats were the most abundant motifs (40.82%) among the EST-SSRs, while the majority of the genomic SSRs were di-nuleotide repeats. The polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.08 to 0.75 with a mean of 0.46. Besides this, the expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.0854 to 0.7842 with an average of 0.5279. Overall, the polymorphism of genomic SSRs was higher than that of EST-SSRs. Furthermore, the number of alleles and the PIC of wild barley were both higher than that of cultivated barley, being 3.12 vs 2.59 and 0.44 vs 0.37. Indicating more polymorphism existed in the Tibetan wild barley than in cultivated barley. The 96 accessions were divided into eight subpopulations based on 69 SSR markers, and the cultivated genotypes can be clearly separated from wild barleys. A total of 47 SSR-containing EST unigenes showed significant similarities to the known genes. These EST-SSR markers have potential for application in germplasm appraisal, genetic diversity and population structure analysis, facilitating marker-assisted breeding and crop improvement in barley.     

Study of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers from wheat expressed sequence tags (ESTs)

The increasing availability of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) in wheat (Triticum aestivum) and related cereals provides a valuable resource of non-anonymous DNA molecular markers. We examined 170,746 wheat ESTs from the public (International Triticeae EST Cooperative) and Génoplante databases, previously clustered in contigs, for the presence of di- to hexanucleotide simple sequence repeats (SSRs). Analysis of 46,510 contigs identified 3,530 SSRs, which represented 7.5% of the total number of contigs. Only 74% of the sequences allowed primer pairs to be designed, 70% led to an amplification product, mainly of a high quality (68%), and 53% exhibited polymorphism for at least one cultivar among the eight tested. Even though dinucleotide SSRs were less represented than trinucleotide SSRs (15.5% versus 66.5%, respectively), the former showed a much higher polymorphism level (83% versus 46%). The effect of the number and type of repeats is also discussed. The development of new EST-SSRs markers will have important implications for the genetic analysis and exploitation of the genetic resources of wheat and related species and will provide a more direct estimate of functional diversity.     

Characterization of EST-SSRs in loblolly pine and spruce

In the first large study of conifer expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeats (EST-SSRs), two large conifer EST databases were characterized for EST-SSRs. One database was from “interior spruce” (white and Engelmann spruce in Southern British Columbia) and Sitka spruce, while the other was from loblolly pine. We found 475 and 629 unique EST-SSRs in loblolly pine and spruce, respectively. 3′ ESTs contained 14% more SSRs than 5′ EST reads in loblolly pine and 41% more in spruce. Conifer EST-SSRs differed conspicuously from angiosperm EST-SSRs in several aspects. EST-SSRs were considerably less frequent in conifers (one EST-SSR every ∼50 kb) than in angiosperms (one EST-SSR every ∼20 kb). Dinucleotide repeats were the most abundant repeat class in conifers, while in angiosperms, trinucleotides were most common. Finally, the AT motif was the dominant motif recovered in both conifer species, whereas AG was the most common dinucleotide repeat in angiosperms. Also, as these EST-SSRs in conifers could be developed into useful genetic markers, our work demonstrates the value of large-scale EST sequencing projects for in-silico approaches for marker development.     

Validation and comparison of microsatellite markers derived from Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis, Kaup) genomic and expressed sequence tags libraries

In this work, we tested 100 potential new microsatellites (SSRs) equally derived from expressed sequence tag (EST) and enriched genomic-DNA libraries from Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis, Kaup), a valuable cultured flatfish species. A final set of 69 new polymorphic microsatellites were validated after a population analysis, 37 of which corresponded to the first EST library constructed for Senegalese sole (EST-SSR). Although differences were not significant, EST sequences provided a higher proportion of quality markers (74%) than anonymous ones (64%). Most of the rejected anonymous SSRs (17 loci) were discarded because they did not generate PCR products; only one was monomorphic. On the contrary, all EST-SSRs gave PCR products, although monomorphism was more frequent (26%). Altogether, the number of alleles per locus was fairly similar in both SSR types, ranging from 2 to 19. The observed and expected heterozygosities varied from 0.105 to 1 and from 0.108 to 0.937, respectively. The main difference between the two sets was the percentage of annotated loci, being higher in EST-SSRs, as expected. Within the EST-SSRs, 46% of them showed flanking regions that significantly matched with EST sequences from other three flatfish species; however, the microsatellite itself was present only on half of these cases. These two new SSR sets constitute a suitable tool for fingerprinting, gene flow, genetic diversity, genome mapping studies and molecular-assisted breeding in this species.     

In silico mining and characterization of simple sequence repeats from gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) expressed sequence tags (EST-SSRs); PCR amplification, polymorphism evaluation and multiplexing and cross-species assays

We screened for simple sequence repeats (SSRs) found in ESTs derived from an EST-database development project ('Marine Genomics Europe' Network of Excellence). Different motifs of di-, tri-, tetra-, penta- and hexanucleotide SSRs were evaluated for variation in length and position in the expressed sequences, relative abundance and distribution in gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata). We found 899 ESTs that harbor 997 SSRs (4.94%). On average, one SSR was found per 2.95 kb of EST sequence and the dinucleotide SSRs are the most abundant accounting for 47.6% of the total number. EST-SSRs were used as template for primer design. 664 primer pairs could be successfully identified and a subset of 206 pairs of primers was synthesized, PCR-tested and visualized on ethidium bromide stained agarose gels. The main objective was to further assess the potential of EST-SSRs as informative markers and investigate their cross-species amplification in sixteen teleost fish species: seven sparid species and nine other species from different families. Approximately 78% of the primer pairs gave PCR products of expected size in gilthead sea bream, and as expected, the rate of successful amplification of sea bream EST-SSRs was higher in sparids, lower in other perciforms and even lower in species of the Clupeiform and Gadiform orders. We finally determined the polymorphism and the heterozygosity of 63 markers in a wild gilthead sea bream population; fifty-eight loci were found to be polymorphic with the expected heterozygosity and the number of alleles ranging from 0.089 to 0.946 and from 2 to 27, respectively. These tools and markers are expected to enhance the available genetic linkage map in gilthead sea bream, to assist comparative mapping and genome analyses for this species and further with other model fish species and finally to help advance genetic analysis for cultivated and wild populations and accelerate breeding programs.     

An integrated SSR and RFLP linkage map of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.

We report the development, testing, and use (for genetic mapping) of a large number of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer sets that amplify DNA simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. Most of the primer sets were developed from clones isolated from two sorghum bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries and three enriched sorghum genomic-DNA (gDNA) libraries. A few were developed from sorghum DNA sequences present in public databases. The libraries were probed with radiolabeled di- and trinucleotide oligomers, the BAC libraries with four and six oligomers, respectively, and the enriched gDNA libraries with four and three oligomers, respectively. Both types of libraries were markedly enriched for SSRs relative to a size-fractionated gDNA library studied earlier. However, only 2% of the sequenced clones obtained from the size-fractionated gDNA library lacked a SSR, whereas 13% and 17% of the sequenced clones obtained from the BAC and enriched gDNA libraries, respectively, lacked a SSR. Primer sets were produced for 313 SSR loci. Two-hundred sixty-six (85%) of the loci were amplified and 165 (53%) of the loci were found to be polymorphic in a population composed of 18 diverse sorghum lines. (AG/TC)n and (AC/TG)n repeats comprised 91% of the dinucleotide SSRs and 52% of all of the SSRs at the polymorphic loci, whereas four types of repeats comprised 66% of the trinucleotide SSRs at the loci. Primer sequences are reported for the 165 polymorphic loci and for eight monomorphic loci that have a high degree of homology to genes. Also reported are the genetic map locations of 113 novel SSR loci (including four SSR-containing gene loci) and a linkage map composed of 147 SSR loci and 323 RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) loci. The number of SSR loci per linkage group ranges from 8 to 30. The SSR loci are distributed relatively evenly throughout approximately 75% of the 1406-cM linkage map, but segments of five linkage groups comprising about 25% of the map either lack or contain few SSR loci. Mapping of SSR loci isolated from BAC clones located to these segments is likely to be the most efficient method for placing SSR loci in the segments.     

基于转录组测序信息的水生植物莕菜SSR标记开发

利用软件MISA对水生植物莕菜转录组测序所获得的79536条EST序列进行分析,共检测出12319个EST-SSR位点。在莕菜的EST-SSR中,二核苷酸和三核苷酸重复单元是主导类型,分别占总SSR的57.31%和30.87%,其中AG/CT、AAG/CTT分别是二、三重复单元类型的优势重复基元,分别占总SSR的29.76%和8.66%。随机挑选了130对EST-SSR引物对莕菜两个居群进行遗传多样性检测,结果发现：78对引物能扩增出清晰可分辨的条带,其中37对能成功检测出多态性,引物多态率为 47.44%。这些多态性引物共检测出114个等位基因,每个位点2~6个,平均3.08个。观测杂合度（H_o）及预期杂合度（H_e）分别在0.229~1.000和0.351~0.756之间,多态信息含量PIC值在0.286~0.698之间,平均达0.495。以上研究结果表明,通过莕菜转录组测序产生的EST数据来开发SSR标记是一种简单而高效的途径,这些新的SSR分子标记为研究莕菜的居群遗传多样性及其遗传结构提供了工具。     

Characteristics and analysis of simple sequence repeats in the cotton genome based on a linkage map constructed from a BC1 population between Gossypium hirsutum and G. barbadense.

In the past decade, several molecular maps of cotton have been constructed using diverse DNA molecular markers and mapping populations. In this study, an interspecific linkage map of allotetraploid cotton was developed using a BC1 population ((Gossypium hirsutum x G. barbadense) x G. hirsutum). This map was genome-wide and was based entirely on simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Forty-four linkage groups were assigned to 26 chromosomes, with 917 loci spanning 5452.2 cM of the genome. The average distance between loci was 5.9 cM, providing uniform coverage of the A subgenome and D subgenome. Characteristics of this map were analyzed in detail, including the distributions of genomic SSRs, expressed sequence tag (EST)-SSRs, and distorted markers. Furthermore, the relationships between motif characteristics (size, type, length) and the level of polymorphism in EST-SSRs were also surveyed. The results showed that tetranucleotide and dinucleotide repeats had similar levels of polymorphism, and ACAT, AC, and ACT repeats had the highest polymorphism rates. Loci with lengths of 27 bp, 33 bp, and 24 bp were more likely to be polymorphic. This work will provide information to assist in designing future EST-SSRs.     

Exploiting EST databases for the development and characterization of EST-SSRs in the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas)

A total of 147 microsatellite-containing expressed sequence tags (ESTs) (3.63%) were detected from 4053 ESTs of the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) in GenBank. The average density of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) was 1 per 8.25 kb of EST after redundancy elimination. Dinucleotide repeat motifs appeared to be the most abundant type. Sixteen new polymorphic EST-SSRs were developed. The number of alleles per locus varied from 3 to 12, with an average of 5.9 alleles per locus. Marker transferability was tested on 2 other Crassostrea species, and 14 loci gave successful amplifications in both species. Twenty EST-SSRs were tested on 3 families of C. gigas for examination of inheritance mode of EST-SSRs. Thirty-five tests of segregation ratios revealed 5 significant departures from expected Mendelian ratios, 4 of which confirmed Mendelian expectations when accounting for the presence of null alleles. Null alleles were detected at 3 loci (15.0%) of the 20 loci, and the frequency of null alleles at EST-SSRs was lower than that in genomic SSRs in C. gigas. The results obtained in this study suggest that C. gigas EST-SSRs will complement the currently available genomic SSR markers and may be useful for comparative mapping, marker-assisted selection, and evolutionary studies.