Development of EST-SSRs in Cucumis sativus from sequence database

Simple sequence repeat markers derived from expressed sequence tags (EST-SSR) are potentially valuable tools for plant breeding and germplasm collection conservation, and increasingly, efforts have been made for developing this type of marker. We have identified 20 polymorphic SSR markers from cucumber ESTs deposited in public sequence database. The average allele number was 3.3 per locus, ranging from two to six alleles during screening 20 cucumber genotypes with the mean expected heterozygosity of 0.477. Amplification products were also detected by 13 pairs of primer in Cucumis melo. These informative EST-SSR markers can be used in cucumber genetic improvement projects.