EST-derived SSR markers from defined regions of the wheat genome to identify Lophopyrum elongatum specific loci.

Lophopyrum elongatum, a close relative of wheat, provides a source of novel genes for wheat improvement. Molecular markers were developed to monitor the introgression of L. elongatum chromosome segments into hexaploid wheat. Existing simple sequence repeats (SSRs) derived from genomic libraries were initially screened for detecting L. elongatum loci in wheat, but only 6 of the 163 markers tested were successful. To increase detection of L. elongatum specific loci, 165 SSRs were identified from wheat expressed sequence tags (ESTs), where their chromosomal positions in wheat were known from deletion bin mapping. Detailed sequence analysis identified 41 SSRs within this group as potentially superior in their ability to detect L. elongatum loci. BLASTN alignments were used to position primers within regions of the ESTs that have sequence conservation with at least 1 similar EST from another cereal species. The targeting of primers in this manner enabled 14 L. elongatum markers from 41 wheat ESTs to be identified, whereas only 2 from 124 primers designed in random positions flanking SSRs detected L. elongatum loci. Addition and ditelosomic lines were used to assign all 22 markers to specific chromosome locations in L. elongatum. Nine of these SSR markers were assigned to homoeologous chromosome locations based on their similar position in hexaploid wheat. The remaining markers mapped to other L. elongatum chromosomes indicating a degree of chromosome rearrangements, paralogous sequences and (or) sequence variation between the 2 species. The EST-SSR markers were also used to screen other wheatgrass species indicating further chromosome rearrangements and (or) sequence variation between wheatgrass genomes. This study details methodologies for the generation of SSRs for detecting L. elongatum loci.