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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Crop Germplasm Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #199409
Title: MICROSATELLITE MARKERS FOR VERIFYING PARENTAGE OF PECANS

Author
item Grauke, Larry
item MENDOZA-HERRERA, MARIA - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item LOOPSTRA, CAROL - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item Thompson, Tommy

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/17/2005
Publication Date: 6/1/2006
Citation: Grauke, L.J., Mendoza-Herrera, M.A., Loopstra, C., Thompson, T.E. 2006. Microsatellite markers for verifying parentage of pecans [abstract]. HortScience. 40(3):515.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Microsatellite or Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers are being developed in ongoing research in the USDA ARS Pecan Breeding Program. These co-dominant markers provide a powerful tool for the verification of parentage. To confirm their utility, SSR profiles were used to confirm the parentage of 19 of the 25 controlled crosses released by the breeding program. Questions were raised concerning the parentage of some crosses thought to be known. When the genotype of the maternal parent is known, the paternal genotype necessary to have produced the progeny can be determined. A SAS program was written to query a database that includes 288 pecan accessions in order to find appropriate paternal genotypes given a maternal pattern. If neither parent is known, all possible parental combinations can be derived based on the progeny. Putative parents can be qualified on the basis of genotype as well as other evidence, such as nut morphology, dates of origin, locations of origin, and dichogamy. Using these techniques, putative parents are suggested for the historic cultivars ‘Riverside’ and ‘Western.’ Although the probabilities for a particular genotypic pattern can be determined based on allele frequencies within the population, assigning numeric probabilities to other evidence is more challenging. Meticulous records are necessary to establish the linkage between an inventory of an accession and its historic origin, thereby placing putative parents in combination at the proper place and appropriate time. Records of USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS), as exemplified by logbooks and vouchers of the McKay Collection of the National Arboretum, provide evidence for confident molecular genetic verification of cultivar identity and parentage, increasing the value of the living accessions in the NPGS.