ARS | Publication request: TRANSFER OF SIMPLE SEQUENCE REPEAT (SSR) MARKERS FROM MAJOR CEREAL CROPS TO MINOR GRASS SPECIES FOR GERMPLASM CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION

Submitted to: Plant and Animal Genome Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 30, 2004
Publication Date: January 15, 2005
Citation: Wang, M.L., Barkley, N.L., Ju-Kyung, Y., Dean, R., Sorrells, M., Pederson, G.A. 2005. Transfer of simple sequence repeat (ssr) markers from major cereal crops to minor grass species for germplasm characterization and evaluation. In: Proceedings of The Plant and Animal Genome XIII, Jan 15-19, 2005, San Diego, p.114

Technical Abstract: For germplasm characterization and evaluation, a unique set of 210 SSR markers were selected from major cereal crops (rice, wheat, maize, and sorghum)( and evaluated their transferability to minor grass species (finger millet, Eleusine coracana; seashore paspalum, Paspalum vaginatum; and bermudagrass, Cynodon dactylon). More than half (56.63%) of the SSR primers screened generated reproducible cross-genus amplicons. The SSR transfer rate across the grass family was almost two times higher than the one (30.78%) across the legume family (Wang et al., 2004). There was no significant difference in the transfer rate between genomic SSRs and EST-SSRs. In total, four hundred and twelve cross-species polymorphic amplicons were identified and could be used as DNA markers. The level of polymorphism detected was much higher among species (67.32%) than within species (34.03%). Furthermore, the level of polymorphism detected was also related to the degree of out-crossing for each species. Within species, the level of polymorphism detected was 57.07% from self-incompatible species, 38.96% from outcrossing species and 19.95% from self-crossing species. Transferable polymorphic SSR markers are being used for characterization and evaluation of our turfgrass germplasm. Transfer of SSR markers from major cereal crops to minor grass species can be a very efficient approach for DNA marker development.