Development of new genomic and genic SSR primer pairs for carrot

Carrot (Daucus carota L.) is one of the most economically important and the most popular vegetables cultivated worldwide among the members of family Apiaceae. Despite its importance for human nutrition, health, and development of new drugs, genomic resources in carrot relatively underdeveloped and the use of molecular markers in carrot has limited to a few results of several researches [1]. Among the molecular markers microsatellite or simple sequence repeat (SSR) has much superiority in genetic studies since they are co-dominant, highly polymorphic, and reliable PCR procedure [2,3,4]. But, the number of microsatellite primer pairs flanking the microsatellites in ESTs and genomic DNA library limited in carrot. In order to utilize microsatellites in carrot genetic studies, new microsatellite primer pairs are required. To date at the NCBI, 3845 nucleotide sequences and 93 expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences are available for all Daucus species (March 2011). We developed 14 microsatellite primer pairs using ESTs and genomic DNA library data bases in the NCBI databases. Microsatellites were determined using Exact-Tandem Repeat Analysis program and primer pairs flanking these microsatellites were designed using Primer3 software [5,6]. Microsatellite primer pairs developed in the present study (Table 1) will enhance genetic studies in carrot. Besides, transferability of these microsatellite primer pairs from carrot to other members of the Apiaceae family is important for future genetic studies in the Apiaceae family.

Acknowledgement: This research is supported by the Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Akdeniz University.

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