IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF 74 NOVEL POLYMORPHIC EST-SSR MARKERS IN THE TEA PLANT, CAMELLIA SINENSIS (THEACEAE)

Premise of the study: New simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were developed in the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) using published Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) sequences for further genetic studies and breeding programs. Methods and Results: A total of 74 EST-based SSR markers were generated. Polymorphism and transferability validation in 45 individuals of seven species and varieties of Camellia L. sect. Thea (L.) Dyer revealed that the number of alleles (N-A) per locus varied between one and four or five in each species or variety. The observed heterozygosity (H-O) and expected heterozygosity (H E) ranged from 0.000 to 1.000 and 0.893, respectively. Conclusions: These new polymorphic and transferable EST-SSR markers will have potential for applications in genetic diversity evaluation, molecular fingerprinting identification, comparative genomics analysis, and genetic mapping in the tea plant.