Cross-transferability of Rubus ellipticus EST–SSR markers for genetic diversity analysis of peach ( Prunus persica)

Traditionally, identification of peach cultivars relies on various agronomic traits, which are time-consuming, constrain breeders in the surveillance of germplasm, and are risky to fruit growers and exporters. So, this study was conducted with the objective of characterizing seven peach ( Prunus persica ) cultivars on the basis of morphological descriptors and expressed sequence tags–simple sequence repeat markers (EST–SSR) of Rubus ellipticus . A wide range of phenotypic variability among the peach cultivars was detected by using morphological descriptors. A set of 68 EST–SSR markers from R. ellipticus was used for cross transferability analysis. Out of 68 EST–SSRs, 61 primer pairs (89.7%) showed polymorphism, which indicates high genetic variability in the peach cultivars. The average PIC values of all the polymorphic loci for seven peach cultivars were 0.32. The highest PIC value (0.68) was obtained with contig 397, followed by contig (0.62) and contig 408 (0.57), indicating that contig 397 has the most regions of diversity as amplified with this SSR and was found to be the most suitable for cross-transferability. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), along with bootstrap analysis, separated the peach cultivars into two groups. Morphological descriptors and EST–SSR markers from R. ellipticus have proved to be an efficient source for detecting genetic variability among peach cultivars maintained in the field. These results can serve as an additional source of information for utilizing of peach cultivars in breeding programs.