Identification and Validation of Est-Derived Molecular Markers, Trap and Vntrs, for Banana Research

Abstract

The advent of high-throughput sequencing technology has generated abundant information on DNA sequences for the genomes of many plant species. Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs), which are unique DNA sequences derived from a cDNA library and therefore representing genes transcribed in specific tissues or at some stage of development, are one type of DNA sequences highly available today for many important crop species. Molecular markers are used for bridging DNA sequence information with particular phenotypes and are useful tools for genotyping germplasm collections and also for tagging genes involved in desirable agronomic traits. In this sense, there is always a strong demand for suitable marker techniques to better utilise existing sequence information. A transcriptome database from banana (Musa spp.), DATAMusa, containing 42,724 ESTs from 11 different cDNA libraries and encompassing approximately 24 Mb of DNA sequence, was used in this study for the design of primers to PCR-amplify two types of EST-derived molecular markers, Variable Nucleotide Tandem Repeat (VNTR) and Target Region Amplification Polymorphism (TRAP). These primers were then validated against a panel of 14 diploid Musa genotypes and produced 32 (VNTR) and 119 (TRAP) alleles. Used separately or together, both types of markers were able to discriminate Musa genotypes from different genome background (A or B genomes). The TRAP alleles identified were derived from only one EST, while the VNTR alleles were derived from 12 unigenes. Based on the results of this study, EST-derived markers can be an important source of polymorphism to be used in genetic diversity and gene discovery studies in banana.

Efficiency of sequence related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) and target region amplified polymorphism (TRAP) markers in detecting banana somaclonal variants

“…Most of the somaclonal variants clustered according to their phenotypic categories. Our results are in agreement with those of Garcia et al (2011).…”

“…Krishna et al (2016) reported that plant tissue culture may generate genetic variability, that is, somaclonal variations as a result of gene mutation or changes in epigenetic marks. Garcia et al (2011) used TRAP markers to study genetic diversity in banana plants and they proved their efficiency in this regard. Same notes were reported by Abdellatif et al (2012) and Krishna et al (2015).…”

“…The technique has been effectively used for fingerprinting in plant species Alwala et al, 2006;Liu et al, 2005). Garcia et al (2011) used TRAP markers in 14 diploid Musa genotypes and produced 119 alleles. They reported that TRAP markers have been shown to discriminate A or B genome Musa genotypes.…”

Genetic Diversity in Bananas and Plantains (Musa spp.)

“…New VNTR loci were discovered in the M. acuminata Calcutta 4 BAC end-sequence [41] from five fully sequenced consensi datasets, with validation for polymorphism conducted on genotypes contrasting in host plant resistance to Sigatoka disease [44]. Recently, [45] used a transcriptome database to design primers that were able to distinguish 32 VNTR and 119 target region amplified polymorphism (TRAP) alleles in 14 diploid Musa accessions.…”