Development of pepper SSR markers from sequence databases

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers are potentially valuable tools for pla nt breeding. The objectives of the work reported here were to search the EM BL and Genbank databases for the presence of SSR-containing sequences from the genus Capsicum, to assess the frequency of different motifs, and to exa mine the polymorphism of selected markers in a panel of genotypes, includin g 10 Capsicum spp. and 1 tomato and 1 potato genotype. Fifty-eight microsat ellites with different motifs were found in Capsicum sequences. A subset of twelve of these were selected for the polymorphism survey using PCR primer s flanking the SSR. Polymorphisms between Capsicum lines can be detected wi th 5 of these primer pairs. PCR products of the predicted size were also am plified with three primer pairs in potato and one primer pair in tomato. Th e study also showed that shorter microsatellites could be valuable markers in Capsicum.