Identification of polymorphic SSR markers by examining their cross-transferability and investigation of genetic diversity within Pterocarpus species

Abstract

Pterocarpus dalbergioides and P. marsupium are deciduous tropical trees in the Fabaceae family, with P. dalbergioides native to India’s Andaman Islands and P. marsupium found in various Asian countries. This research investigated the applicability of specific primers for P. santalinus across these species. DNA isolation and PCR amplification were performed on 15 samples from each species. Out of 33 primers, 7 markers were amplified in P. dalbergioides and 15 in P. marsupium, yielding transferability rates of 21 and 33%, respectively. For P. dalbergioides, the effective population size (Ne) was 3.82 ± 1.84, observed heterozygosity (He) 0.42 ± 0.15, and allelic richness (Pa) 5.29 ± 2.01. In P. marsupium, Ne was 4.83 ± 0.91, He was 0.56 ± 0.10, and Pa was 7.07 ± 1.27. The average polymorphic information content (PIC) was 0.49 for P. dalbergioides and 0.54 for P. marsupium. The study underscores the potential of transferred SSR markers to assess genetic diversity in Pterocarpus species.