Cross-genera SSR transferability in cacti revealed by a case study using Cereus (Cereeae, Cactaceae)

Abstract

The study of transferability of simple sequence repeats (SSR) among closely related species is a well-known strategy in population genetics, however transferability among distinct genera is less common. We tested cross-genera SSR amplification in the family Cactaceae using a total of 20 heterologous primers previously developed for the genera Ariocarpus, Echinocactus, Polaskia and Pilosocereus, in four taxa of the genus Cereus: C. fernambucensis subsp. fernambucensis, C. fernambucensis subsp. sericifer, C. jamacaru and C. insularis. Nine microsatellite loci were amplified in Cereus resulting in 35.2% of success in transferability, which is higher than the average rate of 10% reported in the literature for cross-genera transferability in eudicots. The genetic variation in the transferred markers was sufficient to perform standard clustering analysis, indicating each population as a cohesive genetic cluster. Overall, the amount of genetic variation found indicates that the transferred SSR markers might be useful in large-scale population studies within the genus Cereus.

Genetic Diversity Study on Geographical Populations of the Multipurpose Species Elsholtzia stauntonii Using Transferable Microsatellite Markers

“…In the present study, the transferability observed (9.05%) was similar to the average of approximately 10% reported in cross-genera transferability studies of eudicots between 1997 and mid-2006 ( Barbará et al, 2007 ). However, the percentage transferability determined here was lower than the cross-genera amplification percentage observed in some families, such as Bignoniaceae (40.58%) ( Kalia et al, 2020 ) and Cactaceae (35.16%) ( Bombonato et al, 2019 ), and much lower than that between species within the same genus ( Miranda et al, 2020 ; Pern et al, 2020 ; Li et al, 2021 ). The transferability of SSR markers between species or genera is determined by the conservation of DNA sequences and the stability of primer binding sites in flanking regions of SSRs during evolution ( Ellegren, 2000 ; Saeed et al, 2016 ).…”

Protocol development for somatic embryogenesis, SSR markers and genetic modification of Stipagrostis pennata (Trin.) De Winter

“…SSR transferability across species and sub-genera has been demonstrated by earlier studies in several plant genera e.g. Pinus [ 36 ], Cereus [ 37 ], Betula [ 38 ], and Hibiscus [ 39 ]. With reference to the Poaceae family, cross-species transferability of SSRs has been shown in sugarcane [ 40 , 41 ], guinea grass [ 31 ], ryegrass [ 33 ], bamboo [ 42 ], and koronivia grass [ 43 ].…”

Evolutionary Genetics of Cacti: Research Biases, Advances and Prospects

“…Moreover, the possibility of effectively transferring these markers across taxa may overcome the challenges, cost, and time-consuming development of new SSR primers [ 53 , 55 ]. In cacti, this technique has been applied with success ( Table S1 ) at both the cross-species and cross-genera levels [ 28 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. In addition to the possibility of cross-amplification using heterologous primers, the emergence of NGS technologies has allowed the description of new SSR loci from bioinformatic surveys (e.g., [ 51 , 61 ]).…”