Cross-Transferability Analysis of SSRs from V. Macrocarpon between Different Species of Vaccinium.

Food security is becoming an important aspect of plant breeding programs. Food security is not only concerned with access to sustenance, but with access to healthy food and optimal nutrition. Therefore, many current breeding efforts have focused on improving minor crops, particularly “superfruits”, which contain vast amounts of healthy antioxidants and other phytochemicals. In the genus Vaccinium, breeding programs have only recently begun and have focused almost exclusively on blueberries and cranberries due to their high phytochemical and anthocyanin levels. However, the genus has over 450 mostly uncultivated species, many with unique nutritional properties, that could have a powerful impact in improving human nutrition. Additionally, interspecific hybridization among Vaccinium species is common and has been important for germplasm enhancement, for example for the development of reduced chilling requirement in blueberries. This research tested the cross-transferability of 543 recently developed cranberry (V. macrocarpon) simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers among fifteen Vaccinium species, including blueberry (V. angustifolium, V. corymbosum, and V. darrowii), lingonberry (V. vitis-idea Ait.), and V. oxycoccos, which the closest relative to V. macrocarpon. We determined the number of cross-amplifying loci for each species and used the data to examine the genetic relationships among the different taxa. Based on the observed marker transferability rates and genetic relationships, we made additional inferences about potential marker transferability in other Vacciniums and the potential use of the markers in comparative genomic studies. Finally, we created a multiplexing panel of markers for use in molecular breeding and hybridization research in commercially important Vaccinum species.