Transferability of newly developed genomic lentil SSR markers to Cicer species

Development of microsatellite markers requires a great effort, expertise and research infrastructure. Therefore, cross genera or species transferability of already developed markers has constituted a significant alternative. In this study, transferability of newly developed 53 genomic lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) SSR markers to 32 accessions of Cicer species including C. arietinum L., C. bijugum K.H. Rech., C. echinospermum P.H. Davis, C. reticulatum Ladiz., C. pinnatifidium Jaub. & Sp., C. anatolicum Alef. was investigated. Of these markers, 33.09% were found to be transferrable to C. arietinum, 37.7% to C. echinospermum, 35.8% to C.reticulatum, 39.6% to C. bijugum, 18.8% to C. pinnatifidium and finally 15.09% to C. anatolicum species. From these markers, 11.3% were found to be transferable to all Cicer species. Transferable 6 polymorphic SSR primers had 19 alleles in 32 accessions with a mean of 3.16 alleles per locus. Polymorphic information content (PIC) values varied between 0.375 (Lc_MCu21) and 0.587 (Lc_MCu53) with an average value of 0.528. Transferable SSR markers were thought to provide significant contributions to inter and intra-specific studies in Cicer species.