Development and characterization of microsatellite loci in Ulex parviflorus Pourr. And its cross-transferability to other Genisteae.

BACKGROUND

The genus Ulex is composed by 15 species distributed in Europe and Africa, but the majority of them are restricted to the Iberian Peninsula and Northwest Africa. Some of these species are common elements at the landscape level, and others contribute to global biodiversity as narrow endemics. Assayed nuclear and plastid Sanger-sequenced regions do not provide enough resolution to perform evolutionary studies on the genus, neither at the intraspecific population level nor at the interspecific phylogenetic level. Thus, we have developed and characterized a set of nuclear microsatellite loci in U. parviflorus to provide new highly polymorphic molecular markers for the genus Ulex.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Genomic DNA enriched in microsatellite motifs using streptavidin-coated M-280 magnetic beads attached to 5'-biotinylated oligonucleotides was sequenced in a 454GS Junior System. After primer design, fluorescent-dyed amplicons were analyzed through capillary sequencing (ABI3730XL). Here we present twelve new high polimorphic SSRs markers developed in U. parviflorus specimens and tested in 120 individuals. The 12 SSR loci amplified a total of 152 alleles, and detected expected heterozygosities that ranged from 0.674 to 0.725 in the genotyped populations. Successful cross-species transferability of the 12 SSR loci to the rest of species included in the genus Ulex and three other representative Genisteae was achieved.

CONCLUSIONS

The 12 novel proposed SSRs loci will contribute to perform evolutionary studies and genetic research on the genus Ulex and in other Genisteae.