Development of novel SSR molecular markers using a Next-Generation Sequencing approach (ddRADseq) in Stetsonia coryne (Cactaceae)

Abstract

The Cactaceae family is native to the American continent with several centers of diversity. In South America, one of these centers is the Central Andes and many species are considered to be threatened or vulnerable according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Stetsonia coryne is an emblematic giant columnar cacti of the Chaco phytogeographic province. It has an extensive geographical distribution in many countries of the continent. However, to date there are no specifi c molecular markers for this species, neither reports of population genetic variability studies, such as for many cactus species. The lack of information is fundamentally due to the lack of molecular markers that allow these studies. In this work, by applying a Genotyping by Sequencing (GBS) technique, we developed polymorphic SSR markers for the Stetsonia coryne and evaluated their transferability to phylogenetically close species, in order to account for a robust panel of molecular markers for multispecies-studies within Cactaceae.

Evolutionary Genetics of Cacti: Research Biases, Advances and Prospects

“…The combination likely occurred due to a low mutation rate of cpDNA markers compared to nrDNA regions [ 36 , 47 ] and low sequence variation of cpDNA among closely related species or among conspecific populations (e.g., [ 21 , 48 , 49 ]). Even so, the use of multiple independent molecular markers has been a successful strategy to resolve phylogenetic relationships within rapid and recent divergent groups of Cactaceae [ 21 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]. Furthermore, the integrative use of plastid and nuclear genome information allows us to understand many biological issues in plants, such as patterns of plastid-nuclear discordance caused by differential dispersal between pollen and seeds.…”