title: Development of nuclear microsatellite markers for the fonio, Digitaria exilis (Poaceae), an understudied West African cereal.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We developed nuclear microsatellite primers to explore the genetic diversity, population genetic structure, and evolutionary history of the fonio (Digitaria exilis), an understudied cereal cultivated in West Africa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We used a microsatellite-enriched library approach to isolate and characterize 38 nuclear primer pairs (31 di-, five tri-, and two tetranucleotide repeats), of which 21 were polymorphic and exhibited a clear pattern in 36 accessions from West Africa. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to 22, with a mean of 4.71, and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.03 to 0.93.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The developed set of 21 polymorphic SSR markers will provide tools for population and evolutionary genetics studies of the cultivated fonio.
authors.affiliation: UMR DIADE, IRD, 34394 Montpellier, France. adeline.barnaud@ird.fr
authors.forename: Adeline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barnaud
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vignes
authors.forename: Ange-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Risterucci
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Noyer
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blay
authors.forename: Marylène
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buiron
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Vigouroux
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Billot
mesh_terms: D000354:Africa, Western; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D003710:Demography; D031746:Digitaria / Q000235:genetics*; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant