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Title: Development of a large set of microsatellite markers in Zapote Maney (Pouteria sapota (Jacq.) (H.E. Moore & Stearn) and their potential use in the study of the species

Author
item Arias De Ares, Renee
item CASTILLO, JAIME - Centro De Investigacion
item Sobolev, Victor
item BLANCARTE-JASSO, NASIB - Centro De Investigacion
item Simpson, Sheron
item Ballard, Linda
item Duke, Mary
item Liu, Xiaofen - Fanny
item Irish, Brian
item Scheffler, Brian

Submitted to: Molecules
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/17/2015
Publication Date: 6/22/2015
Citation: Arias De Ares, R.S., Castillo, J.M., Sobolev, V., Blancarte-Jasso, N.H., Simpson, S.A., Ballard, L.L., Duke, M.V., Liu, X.F., Irish, B.M., Scheffler, B.E. 2015. Development of a large set of microsatellite markers in Zapote Maney (Pouteria sapota (Jacq.) (H.E. Moore & Stearn) and their potential use in the study of the species. Molecules. 20(60):11400-11417.

Interpretive Summary: Numerous chemical compounds with applications in human health (as anti-inflammatory, tyrosinase inhibitors, or against dermatitis), as well as insecticides and parasiticidal, are extracted from various species of the tropical plant Pouteria. Collections of Pouteria sapota plants, which bear large amounts of edible fruits, are present in banks of germplasm in the USA. Since no genetic information is available about this species, there is a lack of molecular tools to distinguish varieties, or to associate genotypes to agronomic or chemical traits. In this work we developed 384 molecular markers for P. sapota that for the first time can differentiate the geographic origin of populations of this species. Many of these markers are associated to biological functions, which will allow elaborating and testing hypotheses in relation of the biology of P. sapota.

Technical Abstract: The tropical plant Pouteria sapota (Jacq.) is known for its edible fruits that contain unique carotenoids, and for the chemicals extracted from its bark, leaves and roots having fungitoxic, insecticidal, anti-inflamatory, anti-oxidant and tyrosinase inhibitory activities. Currently, there is no genetic information about this species - only one entry of 443bp in GenBank. We did high throughput sequencing of microsatellite-enriched libraries of P. sapota, submitted 5223 DNA contig sequences with a total of 1.8 Mbp to GenBank, developed 384 microsatellites markers and tested the latter on 31 P. sapota samples from 11 populations (7 collected from the wild, 4 cultivated) from Mexico and Puerto Rico. BLAST analysis to gene ontology of the DNA sequences containing microsatellites that effectively discriminated these populations, showed association to physiological activities, e.g., folate synthesis, phototropism, defense against insects, phytoalexin synthesis, seed maturation, pathogen defense and hormone signaling. In samples collected from the wild, microsatellites at 62 loci detected one or more alleles that were not observed among the cultivated populations tested. Potential applications of the developed microsatellite markers screening germplasm collections, for ancestry and domestication studies are discussed.