title: Characterization of microsatellite loci and reliable genotyping in a polyploid plant, Mercurialis perennis (Euphorbiaceae).
abstract: For many applications in population genetics, codominant simple sequence repeats (SSRs) may have substantial advantages over dominant anonymous markers such as amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). In high polyploids, however, allele dosage of SSRs cannot easily be determined and alleles are not easily attributable to potentially diploidized loci. Here, we argue that SSRs may nonetheless be better than AFLPs for polyploid taxa if they are analyzed as effectively dominant markers because they are more reliable and more precise. We describe the transfer of SSRs developed for diploid Mercurialis huetii to the clonal dioecious M. perennis. Primers were tested on a set of 54 male and female plants from natural decaploid populations. Eight of 65 tested loci produced polymorphic fragments. Binary profiles from 4 different scoring routines were used to define multilocus lineages (MLLs). Allowing for fragment differences within 1 MLL, all analyses revealed the same 14 MLLs without conflicting with merigenet, sex, or plot assignment. For semiautomatic scoring, a combination of as few as 2 of the 4 most polymorphic loci resulted in unambiguous discrimination of clones. Our study demonstrates that microsatellite fingerprinting of polyploid plants is a cost efficient and reliable alternative to AFLPs, not least because fewer loci are required than for diploids.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Grimmer Str. 88, 17487 Greifswald, Germany. tanja_pfeiffer@gmx.de
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.forename: Anna M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Roschanski
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Pannell
authors.forename: Grazyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Korbecka
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schnittler
mesh_terms: D054458:Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis; D001483:Base Sequence; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D019665:Euphorbiaceae / Q000235:genetics*; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics*; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000379:methods*; D005838:Genotype; D005858:Germany; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011044:Poland; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011123:Polyploidy; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D005819:Genetic Markers