Mapping of a Major Stripe Rust Resistance Gene in Chinese Native Wheat Variety Chike Using Microsatellite Markers

Chike （accession number Su1900）, a Chinese native wheat （Triticum aestivum L.） variety, is resistant to the currently prevailing physiological races of Puccinia striiformis Westend. f. sp. tritici in China. Genetic analysis indicated that resistance to the physiological race CY32 of the pathogen in the variety was controlled by one dominant gene. In this study, BSA （bulked segregant analysis） methods and SSRs （simple sequence repeats） marker polymorphic analysis are used to map the gene. The resistant and susceptible DNA bulks were prepared from the segregating F2 population of the cross between Taichung 29, a susceptible variety as maternal parent, and Chike as paternal parent. Over 400 SSR primers were screened, and five SSR markers Xwmc44, Xgwm259, Xwmc367, Xcfa2292, and Xbarc80 on the chromosome arm 1BL were found to be polymorphic between the resistant and the susceptible DNA bulks as well as their parents. Genetic linkage was tested on segregating F2 population with 200 plants, including 140 resistant and 60 susceptible plants. All the five SSR markers were linked to the stripe rust resistance gene in Chike. The genetic distances for the markers Xwmc44, Xgwm259, Xwmc367, Xcfa2292, and Xbarc80 to the target gene were 8.3 cM, 9.1 cM, 17.2 cM, 20.6 cM, and 31.6 cM, respectively. Analysis using 21 nulli-tetrasomic Chinese Spring lines further confirmed that all the five markers were located on chromosome lB. On the basis of the above results, it is reasonable to assume that the major stripe rust resistance gene YrChk in Chike was located on the chromosome arm 1BL, and its comparison with the other stripe rust resistance genes located on 1B suggested that YrChk may be a novel gene that provides the resistance against stripe rust in Chike. Exploration and utilization of resources of disease resistance genes in native wheat varieties will be helpful both to diversify the resistance genes and to amend the situation of resistance gene simplification in the commercial wheat cultivars in China.

Discordant patterns of genetic variation between mitochondrial and microsatellite markers in Acanthogobius ommaturus across the coastal areas of China

Acanthogobius ommaturus, which belongs to the family Gobiidae, is a euryhaline and demersal fish that is widely distributed in the coastal areas, harbors, and estuaries of China, D. P. R. Korea and Japan. In this study, the genetic diversity and genetic structure of five geographical populations of A. ommaturus was assessed using the mitochondrial hypervariable region gene and microsatellite markers. The results of the two genetic markers indicated that the A. ommaturus populations had a high level of genetic diversity. The mitochondrial marker detected weak genetic differentiation among populations, and the Neighbor-Joining tree showed that there was no obvious pedigree branches and geographic structure as well. However, population of Zhoushan showed significant genetic differentiation with other populations by microsatellite markers. The population of A.ommaturus has not experienced bottleneck effect recently. We speculated that the Pleistocene climate change and juvenile fish dispersal played an important role in the population differentiation of A. ommaturus.

Development and Characterization of Microsatellite Markers for Harpadon nehereus Based on High-Throughput Sequencing and Cross-Species Amplification in Three Myctophiformes Fishes

Harpadon nehereus is a widespread economical fish found in the coastal seas of China and has important ecological value in the marine ecosystem.H_(o)wever,its germplasm resources have been seriously degraded due to natural factors and anthropogenic activities.In this study,high-throughput sequencing was applied to search for microsatellite loci in H.nehereus transcriptome to provide references for its resource conservation and utilization.Polymorphic loci were developed by non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis,and their cross-species amplified ability was detected in three related species.A total of 5652 microsatellites were identified from 16974320 unigenes.Among the primer pairs designed for 100 SSRs for PCR amplification,80%were successfully amplified,and 26 loci were polymorphic with a high number of alleles from 3 to 11 each.The expected(H_(e))and observed(H_(o))heterozygosities were 0.355–0.885 and 0.375–0.958,respectively.Most of the loci were highly polymorphic(polymorphism information content:0.316–0.852;mean:0.713),and these markers can be applied in the population genetic diversity research of H.nehereus.H_(o)wever,the transferability of these primers was low,probably because of the close relation of the collected species.In follow-up work,simple sequence repeats will be excavated with genome-based technologies,and related species will be gathered to address the present inadequacies.

The Identification and Assessment on Genetic Characteristics in Grading Breeding Sheep Populations with Microsatellite Markers

[Objective] The aim of the research was to identify and assess the genetic characteristics of grading breeding sheep populations in Ba Yan Nur City. [Method] Genetic polymorphism and aggregation of seven sheep populations, including three breeding sheep populations (breeding F1, F2 and Bamei mutton sheep), three introduced mutton sheep breeds (Texel, Dorset and German Merino sheep) and one local female parent population (Mongolia sheep), were assessed using 10 microsatellite markers. [Result] By cluster analysis, the seven sheep populations can be divided into two groups. The F1 and German Merino sheep were closely related, which were clustered with F2, Bamei mutton sheep and Mongolia sheep to form one group while Texel and Dorset to form another group. The genetic aggregation of the seven breeds was assessed by Bayesian discrimination. And the results show that the genetic aggregation of F1 and F2 were lower while that of Bamei mutton sheep, Texel, Dorset and German Merino sheep were higher. [Conclusion] Better genetic stability has been formed in Bamei mutton sheep.

Microsatellite DNA Marker Analysis of Genetic Diversity in Wild Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) Populations

Thirty microsatellite loci were used for analyzing six wild populations of common carp （Cyprinus carpio L.）. Observed （Ho） and expected （He） heterozygosity values, polymorphic information content （PIC）, and number of effective alleles （Ae） were all detected. Genetic similarity index and genetic distance were computed based on the allele frequency. The Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium was checked according to the test of χ^2. Genetic differentiation and hierarchical partition of genetic diversity were evaluated by FST and Nm. A clustering dendrograrn was made based on the results of UPGMA methods using the PHYLIP software package （version 3.63）. There were totally 8,136 fragments ranging from 125 bp to 414 bp in length. Three to thirteen alleles were amplified in 30 loci and 210 alleles in all six populations. The average number of alleles in each locus was seven. The result showed that 1） the level of genetic variability was moderate in the six populations. Polymorphic information contents of the six wild common carp populations were 0.44, 0.52, 0.53, 0.57, 0.63, and 0.64 respectively. Effective alleles were from 1.04 to 4.72, the average numbers in each population were 2.19, 2.60, 2.42, 2.43, 2.45, and 2.33. The average expected heterozygosity values were 0.50, 0.59, 0.56, 0.56, 0.57, and 0.54 respectively; 2） the highest genetic similarity index that came from the populations of BR and ZL was 0.8511 and the lowest index was 0.6688, and it came from the populations of BR and HN. There was a correlation between the clustering result and the geographical distribution.

Genetic Diversity Analysis of Three Guizhou Local Pig Breeds Using Microsatellite DNA Markers

[Objective] The research aimed to provide the genetic basis for the protection, development and utilization of Guizhou local pig breeds. [Method] From 27 pairs of porcine microsatellite primers recommended by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations （FAO） and international Society for Animal Genetics （ISAG）, six pairs （S0155, SW240, IGF1, SW951, SW857, SW24） were selected for microsatellite DNA detection of three Guizhou local pig breeds, including Nuogu Pig, Kele Pig and Guanling Pig. Subsequently, their genetic diversities were analyzed. [ Result] The three pig breeds were high polymorphic at the six microsatellite loci （PIC 〉0.5）. The Nei＇s standard genetic distance of them was 0.206 3 -0.481 5. The genetic distance between Nuogu Pig and Kele Pig Was the closest, and that between Nuogu Pig and Guanling Pig was the furthest. [ Conclusion] The three Guizhou local pig breeds are in high genetic diversities. Nuogu Pig is a special type of Kele Pig, an excellent Chinese local pig breed.

Status of microsatellites as genetic markers in cervids

Microsatellite loci distributing on genome randomly act as effective genetic markers. To date, about 200 microsatellite loci were found in cervids b y transferring microsatellite PCR primers derived in bovine, ovine to cervids, a s well as a few loci derived directly from deer microsatellite library. These lo ci have been used in parentage determination, genetic diversity and population s tructure, population introgression, as genetic marker gestation length and winte ring survival et al. However, microsatellite loci presently found are untouchabl e to the demand of application. Future work should include: 1) isolating a large number of cervine microsatellite loci, 2) constructing genetic and physical map s of microsatellite loci. So that microsatelites have a strong base for advanced applications in deer.

Assessment of Genetic Variability and Inter-specific Relationships among Four Species of Groupers (Genus Epinephelus) from South China Sea Using Microsatellite Markers

[Objective] The study aimed to evaluate the genetic variability and interspecific relationships among four species of groupers from South China Sea, including E. fario, E. merra, E. malabaricus and E. coioides. [Method] Twenty one mircosatellite loci of groupers were selected from GenBank and eight high polymorphic loci were used to further genetic analysis. [Result] The mean number of alleles per locus （A）, effective number of alleles （Ne）, mean polymorphism information content （PIC）, observed heterozygosity （Ho） and expected heterozygosity （He） were 4.38±1.60, 3.69±0.86, 0.69±0.08, 0.67±0.08, 0.72±0.06 in E. malabaricus; 3.88±1.13, 3.55±1.04, 0.66±0.10, 0.68±0.21, 0.70±0.08 in E.coioides; 6.00±1.07, 4.68±0.65, 0.78±0.03, 0.73±0.25, 0.79±0.03 in E. fario; 5.50±1.07, 4.58±0.80, 0.76±0.05, 0.75±0.18, 0.78±0.04 in E. merra, respectively. [Conclusion] We compared the values above, the order of the genetic variability among these grouper species was E. fario E. merra E. malabaricus E. coioides. We found that the level of genetic variability of these groupers species was relatively higher than that of other marine fish, so their genetic status was good. In addition, the analyisis of genetic relationship showed that E. malabaricus and E. coioides was the closest and it was the farthest between E. merra and E. coioides.

Genetic Analysis and Linkage Mapping in a Resource Pig Population Using Microsatellite Markers

The use of markers and linkage map construction are important for QTL mapping in pigs. In this article, the genetic characteristics were studied and the linkage map was constructed in a pig resource population including 214 individuals by typing 39 microsatellite marker loci on Sus scrofa chromosomes, SSC4, SSC6, SSC7, SSC8, and SSC13. Results indicated that the average allele number, the average observed beterozygosity （Ho）, and the average polymorphism information content （PIC） in F1 and F2 population were 3.2, 0.528, 0.463 and 3.2, 0.496, 0.447, respectively. In the pig resource population, the average informative meiosis （IM） was 217.4 （44-316）, and the average linkage map length between the two sexes on the five chromosomes were 172.3 cM （SSC4）, 168.7 cM （SSC6）, 191.7 cM （SSC7）, 197.3 cM （SSC8）, and 178.3 cM （SSC13）. The orders of microsatellite marker loci in the linkage maps were identical to, but the length was greater than, those of USDA-MARC reference map. The results of this research showed the genetic relationship and genetic characteristics of the microsatellite markers in the pig resource family population, and the linkage map could be used to for QTL mapping in the subsequent study.

Microsatellite Genotyping for Four Expected Inbred Mouse Strains from KM Mice

Chinese Kun Ming （KM） mouse, an outbreed strain of laboratory animal, has been widely utilized in related pharmaceutical and genetic studies throughout China. However, the value of KM mice to the research community has been severely limited, partially due to the fact that well-characterized inbred strain of KM mice is not available. Several expected inbred strains from KM mice have been bred, but their genetic purity remains uncertain. In this study, four expected inbred strains of KM mice （A1, T2, N2, and N4） were chosen and their inbred degree were compared with two classical inbred mouse lines （BALB/c and C57BL/6） by analyzing the genotypes of about 30 microsatellite markers. In the four strains, A1 and N4 were homozygous at all genotyped loci, but N2 and T2 were only heterozygous at locus D15Mit16. These results indicate that the level of genetic purity/homozygousity of A1, N4, N2, and T2 inbred line is comparable to those of BALB/c and C57BL/6. This study provided the first and solid evidence for genetic purity of four expected inbred strains of KM mice. These 4 inbred mice strains should be well maintained for further characterization and utilization in genetic studies.

A Preliminary Genetic Linkage Map of Sinonovacula constricta(Lamarck, 1818) Based on Microsatellites Derived from RAD Sequencing

Sinonovacula constricta is one of the important economic aquaculture species in China. In this study, we constructed genetic linkage maps of S. constricta based on 300 microsatellite markers derived from RAD-seq using an F1 full-sib family. The female map contained 204 microsatellites assigned to 22 linkage groups, which covered 1529.5 cM with an average interval of 10.3 cM. The male consisted of 187 microsatellites in 19 linkage groups corresponding to the haploid chromosome number(n(28)19), which spanned 1429.3 cM with an average interval of 8.7 cM. The genome coverage was approximately 83.5% and 81.4%, respectively. An integrated map was constructed according to the common markers in parental linkage groups, which had a total length of 1683.8 cM with an average interval of 7.3 cM. The genome coverage of the integrated map was approximately 86.3%. The genetic linkage map would form the foundation for further studies on the quantitative trait loci(QTL), as well as accelerating the breeding process of this species.

Development of microsatellite markers and their utilization in genetic diversity analysis of cultivated and wild populations of the mud carp (Cirrhina molitorella)

Microsatellite markers have been increasingly used in genetic studies on fishery species because of their high applicability in selective breeding programs. Here we reported the development of microsatellite markers and their utilization in mud carp （Cirrhina molitorella）. An （CA）15 enriched library has been constructed for mud carp, using the magnetic beads enrichment procedure. Sequence analysis of 60 randomly picked positive colonies indicate that 56 （93.3%） of the colonies contain microsatellites. Microsatellite polymorphism was assessed using 10 mud carp individuals, and 12 microsatellite loci turned out to be polymorphic. We utilized these loci to study the genetic diversity of a wild population （WM） and a cultured population （CM） of the mud carp. A total of 109 alleles were detected with an average of 9.08 alleles per locus. The mean value of the observed heterozygosity of WM and CM was 0.6361 and 0.6417, respectively, and significant decrease of genetic diversity in CM was not observed. The genetic distance between the two populations was 0.1546 and the value of Gsr was 0.0473. This showed that there existed a slight genetic differentiation between WM and CM.

应用STR荧光标记分析烟台地区草莓种质资源遗传多样性

本研究以烟台地区1份野生草莓种质和6份常规栽培品种为试材,选取已发表具有扩增多态性的11对STR荧光标记引物进行扩增,采用多重荧光毛细管电泳检测,分析了该地区草莓种质的遗传多样性,并构建了其分子身份证.结果表明,用这11对引物从7份草莓种质中共检测到60个STR等位基因位点,平均每对引物5.45个,扩增片段长度在90~270 bp之间,多态信息含量平均为0.676,可用于草莓种质的多态性检测.聚类分析显示7份草莓种质间的遗传相似系数为0.077~0.842,在遗传相似系数为0.257时,7份种质被分为3个类群,W1(野生草莓)与S2(丰香种质)同源性较高.对7份草莓种质进行不同等位基因编码,构建了分子身份证.本研究结果可为烟台地区草莓种质资源鉴定、保护和开发利用提供重要依据.

Genetic Structure and Diversity of Parental Cultivars Involved in China Mainland Sugarcane Breeding Programs as Inferred from DNA Microsatellites

To understand genetic structure and diversity of parental cultivars involved in China Mainland sugarcane breeding programs, 92 elite parents and 4 wild relatives were genotyped with 18 microsatellite DNA markers. The genetic similarity （GS） values among the cultivars ranged from 0.346 to 0.960 with an average of 0.533. Among the introduced cultivars, India accessions had the closest genetic distance to China Mainland accessions （0.447）, while Australia accessions have the furthest distance （0.503）. A comparison of allelic diversity among geographical origins showed that there were 22 China Mainland specific alleles, of which 28% were derived from native S. spontaneaum germplasm in China. Model-based genetic structure, clustering, and principal components analyses consistently revealed there were five groups within the 96 accessions. Groups 1, 2, 4, and 5 consisted of all cultivars and group 3 only contained wild germplasm. Group 2 was characterized as the Introduction group with 46 cultivars predominantly introduced from Australia, Taiwan of China, India, and USA. Groups 1, 4, and 5 consisted of cultivars mostly originated from China Mainland, defined as the Complex group, Yacheng lines group, and F134/CP72-1210 group, respectively, upon their pedigree. By understanding the genetic relationships among the parental cultivars, breeders can gain a rational basis for expanding the gene pool and select the best parental accessions for crossing.

A Sex-linked Microsatellite Marker Reveals Male Heterogamety in Quasipaa boulengeri(Anura: Dicroglossidae)

Few amphibians possess morphologically distinguishable heteromorphic sex chromosomes.The classic indirect method is a time-consuming and resource-demanding task to identify the heterogametic sex.Here we have taken advantage of a sex-specific microsatellite marker,by amplifying a large number of samples of known male and female individuals from various populations,to reveal a homogeneous pattern of male heterogamety in Quasipaa boulengeri.The identification of the heterogametic sex will help interpreting the evolution of sex determination.Besides relevance for evolutionary studies of sex determination,the sex-linked markers have potential for addressing practical issues in conservation biology because the sex reversal that caused by anthropogenic endocrine disruptors is considered as a reason for amphibian decline.

Frequency and Distribution of Microsatellites in the Genome of Filamentous Fungus,Neurospora crassa

A total of 38.0 Mb of publicly available DNA sequence in Neurospora crassa was researched for mono- to hexanucleotide simple sequence repeats (SSR or microsatellite) to determine the type, size and frequency. A total of 14 788 SSRs were observed in the whole genomic DNA sequence, about one every 2.57 kb, with the criteria of SSR length >15 bp and 80% matches. The most abundant microsatellite was trinucleotide repeat, the number was 4 729, followed by hexanucleotide and mononucleotide repeats, the numbers were 2 940 and 2 489 respectively, and the least abundance was dinucleotide repeat, only 691 were found. Among the 10 082 ORFs, 4 094 SSRs were harbored in 2 373 ORF (no intron) of the organism. One thousand and fifty six ORFs harbored only one SSR. Similar with other organisms, tri- and hexanucleotide repeats were predominant in ORFs, 54.1 and 48.8% of tri- and hexanucleotide repeats were distributed in ORF region. The density of these two motifs was overpresented in coding regions, because ORF region and coding region constitutes only 46 and 38.3% of genomic sequence, respectively. Upstream and downstream 300 bp of regulatory regions were high density regions of SSRs, particularly density of pentanucleotide SSR in upstream region was as high as five times of average density in genomic DNA, density of di- and tetranucleotide SSR was also more than two times of average density. The density of penta-, tetra-, di- and mononucleotide SSRs was relatively higher than average density. There were 47 SSRs in mitochondria 64 840 bp DNA sequence, their distribution is similar with genomic DNA sequence. These results suggested that SSRs were clustered in regulatory regions of genomic DNA.

Development and Characterization of Microsatellite Markers in Brassica rapa ssp.chinensis and Transferability Among Related Species

Simple sequence repeat （SSR） or microsatellite marker is a valuable tool for several purposes, such as mapping, fingerprinting, and breeding. In the present study, an intersimple sequence repeat （ISSR）-PCR technique was applied for developing SSR markers in non-heading Chinese cabbage （Brassica rapa）. A total of 190 SSRs were obtained. Among these, AG or CT （54.7%） was the most frequent repeat, followed by AC or GT （31.6%） of the microsatellites. The average number of the SSRs length array was 16 and 10 times, respectively. Based on the determined SSR sequences, 143 SSR primer pairs were designed to evaluate their transferabilities among the related species of Brassica. The number of alleles produced per marker averaged 2.91, and the polymorphism information content （PIC） value ranged from 0 to 0.863 with an average of 0.540. Monomorphism was observed in 16 primer pairs. The transferability percentage in CC genome was higher than in BB genome. More loci occurred in the BBCC genome. This result supported the hypothesis that BB genome was divergent from A and C genomes, and AA and CC genomes were relatively close. The polymorphic primers can be exploited for further evolution, fingerprinting, and variety identification.

Identification of seeds of Pinus species by microsatellite markers

The 276 pair-primers （nuclear and chloroplast microsatellite） developed from seven species of Pinaceae were selected and identified for cross-species transferability to ten Pinus species （P massoniana, P kesiya, P tabulaeformis P densiflora, P thunbergii, P caribaea, P taeda, P yunnanensis, P densata, P sylvestris）belonging to Sect. Pinus by BSA （bulked segregate analysis） method. The results showed that 23 of 276 （8.0%） markers were successful to have amplification product in ten species, and 5 of 23 （21.7%） were polymorphic cross species and lack of polymorphic within species. Eight of 10 Pinus species were identified by using single primer, two and more combination of primers, but there were still no effective SSR primers for identifying other 2 species （P. kesiya and P. densata）.

Using microsatellite markers to identify heritability of Pacific whiteleg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

Pacific whiteleg shrimp （Litopenaeus vannamei） is an economically relevant shrimp species in many Asian countries. The specific objective of the current research was to assess microsatellite markers in screening the fast- growth of domesticated L. vannamei stocks to establish a founder population for breeding-selection plans. The post.larvae produced by the reproduction of second generation broodstock were cultured in the same conditions throughout a five months growing period. Ninety juvenile shrimp were selected from the slow-, medium- and the fast-growth groups, and ten microsatellite markers were used to investigate their genetic diversity, and to understand the improvement of a breeding-selection scheme. Ten polymorphic loci （markers） （M1-M10） were produced at ten loci in this sample, among them Primer M8 was the highest polymorphic locus and M7 was the lowest one. A specific locus was found in the fast-growth group using Primer M5. The longest genetic distance （0.481） was determined between the fast- and medium-growth groups and the shortest （0.098） was between the slow- and medium-growth groups; therefore, the largest genetic identity （0.946） was observed between the slow- and medium-growth groups and the smallest （0.667） was observed between the medium- and fast-growth groups. The Unweighted Paired Group with Arithmetic Average （UPGMA） dendrogram based on Nei＇s genetic distances provided two different groups; the first consist of the slow- and medium-growth groups and the second the fast- growth group. Selection response and realized heritability for growth were 11.55% and 31.26%, respectively. Therefore, this set of microsatellite markers would provide a useful tool in shrimp breeding schemes.

Mapping QTLs Affecting Economic Traits on BTA3 in Chinese Holstein with Microsatellite Markers

It had been demonstrated that the strong and highly significant quantitative trait locus（QTL） can affect protein percentage on Bos Taurus Autosome 3（BTA3） at the position 52 cM, near the microsatellite DIK4353, with the 95% confidence interval spanning from 25 to 57 cM in Chinese Holstein population using QTL-express, MQREML, and GRIDQTL softwares. This study herein focused on such region of fine mapping QTLs for milk production and functional traits with 16 microsatellite markers with coverage of 33 cM between the markers BMS2904 and MB099 on BTA3 in a daughter-designed Chinese Holstein population. A total of 1 298 Holstein cows and 7 sires were genotyped for 16 microsatellites with ABI 3700 DNA sequencer. The variance components QTL linkage analysis（LA） and linkage-disequilibrium（LD） analysis（LA/LD） was performed to map QTLs for 7 traits, i.e., 305-d milk yield, fat yield, protein yield, fat percentage, protein percentage, somatic cell score and persistency of milk yield. Four strong and highly significant QTLs were detected for fat yield, fat percentage, protein percentage and somatic cell score at the position 40, 30, 27 and 26 cM, respectively. Two minor QTLs for milk yield and persistency of milk yield were identified at 42 and 46 cM, respectively. These findings provided a general idea for the fine mapping of the causal mutation for milk production and functional traits on BTA3 in the future.