Analysis and application of transferable EST-SSR markers from Stylosanthes to Desmodium

To identify genetic background and relationships of Desmodium varieties, 92 Stylosanthes EST-SSR markers and 16 varieties from 8 Desmodium species were used to assess the transferability of Stylosanthes EST-SSR markers in Desmodium genus and analyze the genetic relationships among 8 Desmodium species. The results indicated that the transferability of Stylosanthes EST-SSR markers across 8 Desmodium species ranged from 63.04% to 73.91%, and 50 markers of them could produce reliable amplification in all 8 Desmodium species. A total of 35 alleles were generated by 16 polymorphic markers with an average of 2.19 among 16 Desmodium varieties. Cluster analysis showed that 16 Desmodium varieties can be divided into 5 clusters, which was similar to the classification based on morphology. Therefore, Stylosanthes EST-SSR markers showed high transferability in Desmodium, and it would be suitable for germplasm evaluation and genetic relationships analysis of Desmodium.