TITLE:
Low-Cost Strategies for Development of Molecular Markers Linked to Agronomic Traits in Prunus
AUTHORS:
Juan A. Salazar, Mousa Rasouli, Reza Fatahi Moghaddam, Zabihollah Zamani, Ali Imani, Pedro Martínez-Gómez
KEYWORDS:
Prunus, Breeding, Flowering, Molecular Markers, SSR, RAMP, BSA, Marker-Assisted Selection
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.5 No.5,
April
9,
2014
ABSTRACT: Evaluation of
agronomic traits in Prunus breeding
programs is a tedious process because of the long juvenile period of trees, the
influence of juvenility and the existence of climatic factors affecting the
expression of the trait. For these reasons, marker-assisted selection (MAS)
strategies are particularly useful in these cases. The objective of this work
is the analysis of alternative low- cost strategies for development of
molecular markers linked to agronomic traits in Prunus including the application of modified Bulked segregant
analysis (BSA) using Simple sequence repeat (SSRs) markers and the application
of Random amplified polymorphism microsatellite (RAMP) markers. First BSA
results showed that two SSR loci were found to be tightly linked to flowering
time in almond. On the other hand, RAMP analysis has been demonstrated to be a
potentially valuable molecular marker for the study of genetic relationships in Prunus. Results showed the dominant
nature of these markers with a great abundance and transferability although
with a reduced polymorphism. In addition, RAMP application in F1 progenies
showed its suitability for molecular characterization and mapping, and later
Quantitative trait loci (QTL) or BSA analysis.