Microsatellite markers for Pinus pinaster Ait.

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or microsatellites are valuable tools for genome mapping and population genetic studies for as they are codominant and highly polymorphic markers. Seventy-six SSR primer pairs from four Pinus species were tested to amplify microsatellites in Pinus pinaster. Twenty-six primer pairs were stemmed from a microsatellite library on P. pinaster and the other primer pairs were obtained in other species of the same genus (P. radiata, P. strobus and P. halepensis). Only three out of the 76 SSR primer pairs amplified at a single polymorphic locus in P. pinaster. The Mendelian inheritance of those three primer pairs was studied and their genetic map position was determined. The number of alleles and the level of heterozygosity were assessed in an analysis of a sample of 196 trees. The development of microsatellites in Pinus species has been reported to be a difficult task because of the size and complexity of their genome. The results of this study showed that cross-species amplification was quite unsuccessful.