Molecular Characterization of Prunus Cultivars from Romania by Microsatellite Markers

Abstract

In Romania, Prunus species have great economic and social importance. With the introduction of new cultivars arises the need to preserve and characterize the local Prunus germplasm. Thus, a set of 24 polymorphic SSRs were selected for the overall characterization, including 10 peach, 11 apricot and 5 nectarine cultivars. The average number of alleles per locus (Na = 1.958), in addition to overall observed (Ho = 0.299) and expected heterozygosity (He = 0.286) were lower or comparable to those reported in similar studies, probably explained by the smaller number of analyzed cultivars restricted to a smaller geographic area. Among 26 genotypes a total of 101 alleles were identified, of which 46 alleles were in peach, 55 in apricot and 40 in nectarine, respectively. Six alleles from six loci (CPPCT-030, Pchgms-003, Pchgms-004, Pchgms-010, UDP97-401, UDP98-405) were common to all taxonomic groups. The most informative loci were BPPCT-025, Pchgms-021 and UDP96-001 in peach; BPPCT-025, BPPCT-001 and UDP96-001 in nectarine; and BPPCT-002, BPPCT-025, Pchgms-004, Pchgms-020 and Pchgms-021 in apricot. Clustering and genetic similarity analysis indicated that the degree of interspecific divergence in peach and nectarine cultivars was less than that in peach and apricot. These results will be useful to prevent confusion between cultivars, to improve breeding strategies and to benefit the management of Prunus cultivars bred in Romania.

Mapping the genomic landscape of peach and almond with PrunusMap

“…However, the low reproducibility (RAPDs) and high costs (RFLPs, AFLPs) of these markers led to their replacement by SSRs and SNPs. While SSR markers find frequent utility in Prunus breeding, SNP markers have gained prominence due to their cost-effectiveness, high-throughput and genome-wide coverage (Aranzana et al, 2019; Butiuc-Keul et al, 2022). Moreover, the accurate prediction of marker positions and the identification of nearby genes are critical for understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying target traits and accelerating modern breeding cycles.…”

“…However, the low reproducibility (RAPDs) and high costs (RFLPs, AFLPs) of these markers led to their replacement by SSRs and SNPs. While SSR markers find frequent utility in Prunus breeding, SNP markers have gained prominence due to their cost-effectiveness, highthroughput and genome-wide coverage (Aranzana et al, 2019;Butiuc-Keul et al, 2022).…”