Changes on microsatellites of expressed sequence tag of sugarcane (Saccharum spp) during vegetative propagation.

The reduction in sugarcane productivity in subsequent cutting stages may be related to a gradual decrease of the allele number and mean observed heterozygosity (HO) in the sugarcane ratoon. This hypothesis was tested assessing the number of alleles and HO values in 10 expressed sequence tag microsatellites (Est-SSR loci) of the sugarcane varieties RB72454 and RB867515 in different cutting stages. Changes of allele numbers in samples of different cutting stages were observed in seven and six EstSSR loci of the RB72454 and RB867515 varieties, respectively. Reduction of allele numbers was observed in the samples collected in the fourth and sixth cutting stages of the RB72454 variety. In contrast, an increase of the allele numbers was detected in the samples collected on fourth, sixth, and seventh cutting stages of the RB867515 variety. Unchanged allele numbers were observed only in EstB41, EstC84, and EstB130 loci of the RB72454 variety, and EstB41, EstC67, EstA68, and EstB130 loci of the RB867515 variety. The variety RB867515 has lower polymorphism and values of HO than the RB72454 variety in different stages of cutting. At molecular level, in Est-SSR loci, the RB72454 variety showed higher changes in subsequent stages of cutting than RB867515. The similarities and divergences at molecular level between varieties RB72454 and RB867515 observed in the 10 Est-SSR loci during subsequent cutting stages can not explain the reduced productivity frequently observed after subsequent cutting stages but showed that phenotypic and physiological changes after each cutting stage are also accompanied by changes at genomic level.

Genetic divergence and admixture of ancestral genome groups in the sugarcane variety 'RB867515' (Saccharum spp).

We analyzed 80 plants of the sugarcane (Saccharum spp) variety 'RB867515' in order to investigate its diversity and genetic structure at the molecular level. Four simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci (UGSM51, SMC1237, SEGMS1069, and UGSM38) and five expressed sequence tag (EST)-SSR loci (ESTA68, ESTB92, ESTB145, ESTC66, and ESTC84) were used as molecular markers. The polymorphic loci rate was 66.6%. A total of 17 alleles and an average of 1.88 alleles/locus were detected. The number of alleles in the EST-SSR loci was lower than the number of alleles in the SSRs of non-expressed loci. The mean observed heterozygosity among the nine SSR loci was 0.3291. Genetic structure analysis showed that 'RB867515' contains alleles from three ancestral groups (K = 3), but there is little admixing of alleles in the same plant (from 0.8 to 17.3%); only 1.88% of the plants shared alleles from two or three groups. ESTB92, ESTC84, and UGSM38 were monomorphic, but there was evidence of polymorphism in ESTA68, ESTB145, ESTC66, UGSM51, SMC1237, and SEGMS1069, indicating that 'RB867515' has variability at the molecular level and the potential to be used as a parent in breeding programs. The molecular variability observed in 'RB867515' indicates that the clone terminology that is used to identify this cultivar is inconsistent with the original meaning of "clone", which is defined as a sample of genetically identical plants.

Use of differential levels of mean observed heterozygosity in microsatellite loci of commercial varieties of sugarcane (Saccharum spp).

In this study, we measured the genetic diversity within and among a set of 9 commercial sugarcane varieties used for alcohol and sugar production using 17 microsatellite DNA markers. The UGSM148 and UGSM59 primers were monomorphic for all 74 sugarcane samples. The estimated proportion of simple sequence repeated (SSR) polymorphic loci was 88.23%; 17 alleles were detected. The mean gene diversity of all SSR loci was 0.7279. The highest observed heterozygosity (HO) value was found in the RB72454 variety, whereas the lowest HO value was recorded in the SP813250 variety. The SP813250, RB845210, and RB835054 sugarcane varieties were the most genetically uniform varieties. An extremely high level of population differentiation was detected in the varieties exhibiting similar agronomic characteristics. Analysis of the genetic structure of the 9 sugarcane varieties using SSR markers was especially important to identify SSR loci with high levels of heterozygosity and to identify varieties showing the highest levels of heterozygosity. The monomorphic primers may be used to evaluate the genetic stability of sugarcane during cycles of vegetative multiplication, i.e., propagation via rhizomes.