CBN-V Video Archives - S4-03
Simple Sequence Repeat Markers as Efficient and Robust Molecular Tools in Cassava Varietal Development

Mba C., M. Fregene and J. Tohme

Biotechnology Research Unit, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), KM17 Recta Cali-Palmira, AA 6713 Cali, Colombia.
m.fregene@cgiar.org

        The adoption of easy to use, affordable and easily transferable molecular tools in cassava varietal development, especially in the NARS would greatly enhance the efficiency of the process. Currently, the major bottlenecks in developing and delivering new cassava varieties to the farmers through traditional plant breeding strategies are the undue expense and length of time involved. We report progress in the saturation of an RFLP based molecular genetic framework map of cassava, earlier developed in our Unit with simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. So far, 495 SSR markers have been developed (338 from whole genomic libraries; and 157 from a cDNA library). The genome locations of some of these, indicating a fair coverage of the cassava genome have already been published. The present report also characterizes the SSR markers developed. From the whole genomic libraries, 95% of these SSRs were dinucleotide repeats as against 88% from the cDNA library. The results obtained, especially the high level of polymorphism of the markers, the coverage of the linkage groups and the 100% amplification by the primer pairs of their respective loci, confirm the appropriateness of the use of SSR markers as a low cost alternative to conventional methods in cassava genome analysis and varietal development.

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