Molecular characterization of potato cultivars using SSR markers

The potato crop has a very narrow genetic base, so the use of molecular markers is a very important tool in the characterization of germplasm banks and evaluation of genetic divergence. The objective of this study was to identify, using microsatellite or simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, 38 accessions of potato from two collections of commercial cultivars. For the molecular characterization 10 loci were used, generating a total of 46 alleles, which were analyzed as binary data. A cluster analysis was performed with the Jaccard's similarity coefficient and the UPGMA method, using the software NTSYSpc. On average, the number of alleles per locus was 4.6, ranging from two alleles for primers STM1049, STM 1053 and STM 1104 to 12 alleles per locus for primer STM0019a. Of the 46 alleles, only five were monomorphic, therefore presenting 89.1% polymorphism. The polymorphism information content (PIC) varied from 0.13 to 0.86, with an average of 0.54. The Jaccard's coefficient varied from 0.41 to 0.93, showing high genetic variability among accessions. Two possible duplicates [Atlantic (Canada) and Atlantic (Chile), and Colorado and Agata (EPAMIG) (duplicates with these SSRs, which did not separate them)] were identified. High similarity was also shown by cultivars Chipie and Melodie (EPAMIG), Voyager and Gourmandine (EPAMIG), Eole and Caesar (EPAMIG), and Cupido and Sante (Pirassu). The most genetically divergent accessions (Lady Rosetta and HPC-7B) were also identified.