Microsatellite Markers and Genetic Diversity in Japanese Apricot (Prunus mume).

Sequencing amplification fragments produced using simple-sequence repeat (SSR) primer pairs pchgms2 and UDP96008 in 'Dayezhugan' japanese apricot showed that SSRs obtained included a microsatellite locus originally identified in peach. The microsatellite sequence homogeneity between UDP96008 in japanese apricot in this study and UDP96008 in the peach in GenBank was 98%. Twenty-four japanese apricot genotypes originating in diverse geographic areas had been identified with 14 SSR primer pairs developed in different species of Prunus. In total, 129 alleles were obtained and per primer pairs detected 2.5 alleles on the average. The results from cluster analysis showed that the genetic distance between 'Nanhong' and 'Zhonghong' was the closest, and cultivars from China and from Japan could not be separated completely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]