A new problem with cross-species amplification of microsatellites: generation of non-homologous products.

Microsatellites have been widely used in studies on population genetics, ecology and evolutionary biology. However, microsatellites are not always available for the species to be studied and their isolation could be time-consuming. In order to save time and effort researchers often rely on cross-species amplification. We revealed a new problem of microsatellite cross-species amplification in addition to size homoplasy by analyzing the sequences of electromorphs from seven catfish species belonging to three different families (Clariidae, Heteropneustidae and Pimelodidae). A total of 50 different electromorphs were amplified from the seven catfish species by using primers for 4 microsatellite loci isolated from the species Clarias batrachus. Two hundred and forty PCR-products representing all 50 electromorphs were sequenced and analyzed. Primers for two loci amplified specific products from orthologous loci in all species tested, whereas primers for the other two loci produced specific and polymorphic bands from some non-orthologous loci, even in closely related non-source species. Size homoplasy within the source species was not obvious, whereas extensive size homoplasy across species were detected at three loci, but not at the fourth one. These data suggest that amplification of products from non-orthologous loci and appearance of size homoplasy by cross-amplification are locus dependent, and do not reflect phylogenetic relationship. Amplification of non-orthologous loci and appearance of size homoplasy will lead to obvious complications in phylogenetic interference, population genetic and evolutionary studies. Therefore, we propose that sequence analysis of cross-amplification products should be conducted prior to application of cross-species amplification of microsatellites.