Genetic structure and molecular divergence among samples of mandacaru (Cereus spp.; Cactaceae) as revealed by microsatellite markers

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

“…Even with remarkable morphological distinctness among cactus species, resulting in more than 120 recognized genera ( Hunt et al , 2006 ), these recent divergence times increase the possibility of heterologous amplification in the family Cactaceae due to the expected similarities in the flanking SSR regions among different species. Evidently, this is not a rule, as even here we found discordance between some results obtained by Martin (2011) and Fernandes et al (2016) , which were likely due to nucleotide differences in flanking regions of the distinct samples. At any rate, this information should be taken into consideration to encourage cross-genera transferability studies in Cactaceae, which, despite their potential, are still relatively scarce in this family ( ).…”

“…Except for mEgR 02 , the allele size for all loci was congruent with the expected size ( ). We were not able to amplify five SSR loci previously transferred to Cereus ( Pchi 21 , Pchi 47 , Pchi 54 , mAbR 42 and mAbR 77 ) ( Martin, 2011 ; Fernandes et al , 2016 ), even after several attempts to modify PCR conditions ( ). This result is likely related to nucleotide differences among the flanking regions of the samples used in this work, preventing primer annealing.…”

“…We observed similar success in heterologous amplification using primers described for relatively distantly ( A. bravoanus and E. grusonii – four transferred of nine tested) or closely related species ( P. machrisii – five transferred of 11 tested). It is worth highlighting that for those loci from A. bravoanus , E. grusonii, and P. chichipe we had a previous expectation of positive cross-amplification, as they were formerly transferred for some Cereus species ( Martin, 2011 ; Fernandes et al , 2016 ). Nevertheless, higher levels of cross-genera amplification in the cactus family might be a widespread tendency, as the main lineage divergences and species radiation events within this family are thought to have occurred in the last 10 Myr ( Arakaki et al , 2011 ; Hernández-Hernández et al , 2014 ; Silva et al , 2018 ).…”

“…In this study, we selected a set of 11 SSR loci originally described for Ariocarpus bravoanus ( Hughes et al. , 2008 ), Echinocactus grusonii ( Hardesty et al , 2008 ) and Polaskia chichipe ( Otero-Arnaiz et al , 2004 ) that were recently transferred to Cereus species cultivated in different urban areas, including C. hildmannianus ( Martin 2011 ; Fernandes et al , 2016 ). An additional nine SSR loci described for Pilosocereus machrisii ( Perez et al.…”

Characteristics of fruits and seeds of cereus plants (cactaceae) grown in South and Northeastern Brazil

“…spiniflorum, and R. donaldiana) by Mihalte et al 30 Among the characteristics of seeds (NS, P 100 , and %G) and fruits (length, width, diameter, bark thickness, weight and °Brix) of Cereus from Maringá and Picos analyzed in the present study, the P 100 , length of fruits, bark thickness and °Brix may be recommended to discriminate plants from the two regions: P 100 rate was higher in Picos, while fruit length, bark thickness and °Brix were higher in the fruits from Maringá. The polymorphism of the lipase-5 locus 18 and polymorphisms of DNA fragments obtained with restriction enzymes and amplified by polymerase chain reaction (AFLP) 31 also indicated low genetic identity and high genetic divergence, respectively, between the Maringá and Picos plants, while the simple sequence repeats loci of DNA (SSR loci) 32 indicated moderate genetic divergence. Consequently, the analysis of morphological and physiological characteristics of fruits and seeds, plus biochemical and molecular characteristics of Cereus plants cultivated in Maringá and Picos, demonstrated that only 46% of these characteristics may discriminate plants from the two contrasting regions of south and northeastern Brazil.…”