ARS | Publication request: Est-PCR markers developed from highbush blueberry sequences are useful for genetic fingerprinting and relationship studies in rabbiteye blueberry

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: April 16, 2010
Publication Date: July 25, 2010
Citation: Rowland, L.J., Ogden, E.L., Ehlenfeldt, M.K. 2010. Est-PCR markers developed from highbush blueberry sequences are useful for genetic fingerprinting and relationship studies in rabbiteye blueberry. Meeting Abstract. 2010:p.56.

Technical Abstract: The pedigrees of most rabbiteye blueberry (Vaccinium virgatum) cultivars can be traced back to four wild selections, ‘Ethel’, ‘Clara’, ‘Myers’, and ‘Black Giant’; thus, they result from a very narrow germplasm base and are highly related. Until now randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) has been the only type of molecular marker used extensively in rabbiteye blueberry. Here we have tested whether a type of sequence-tagged site (STS) marker which utilizes specific ~20-mer primers from Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) of highbush blueberry (V. corymbosum), which we call EST-PCR markers, are useful for genetic fingerprinting and relationship studies in rabbiteye blueberry. Of 44 EST-PCR primer pairs, from an assortment of genes expressed in flower buds of cold acclimated and non-acclimated plants, and previously shown to amplify polymorphic fragments among a collection of highbush genotypes, 40 (91%) resulted in successful amplification, and 33 of those (83%) amplified polymorphic fragments among the rabbiteye genotypes. The average number of scorable bands per primer pair was two. A dendrogram constructed from genetic similarity values, based on the EST-PCR marker data, tended to group siblings and parent/progeny together, generally agreeing with pedigree information. A group of 20 markers from five EST-PCR primer pairs distinguished all the genotypes in this study. These markers are as easy to generate and as affordable as RAPDs, but are based on actual gene sequences, and should have general utility for DNA fingerprinting, genetic diversity, and mapping studies.