A set of 35 consensus primer pairs amplifying genes and introns of plant mitochondrial DNA

Being generally uniparentally inherited, the plant mitochondrial genome is a source of original markers potentially useful for studies of phylogeny and population genetics. We designed 24 new pairs of plant mitochondrial DNA primers that allow amplification of either introns, intergenic regions or genes. They have been defined for consensus over angiosperms and were tested along with 11 previously described mitochondrial primer pairs on 28 plant species representing 19 families of higher plants. The total set allows amplification of 40 kb (similar to11%) of the mtDNA genome of Arabidopsis thaliana. The amplification rate ranged between 76% and 100% depending on the species.