Characterization of novel microsatellites and development of multiplex PCR for large-scale population studies in wild cherry, Prunus avium

Primers were developed for 14 microsatellite or simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci identified from a Prunus avium 'Charger' genomic DNA library. In a survey of 16 wild cherry accessions 10 of the loci revealed polymorphisms of between two and six alleles. The remaining loci were found to be monomorphic. Seven polymorphic loci identified in this study and four polymorphic loci previously reported in sweet cherry were mapped and found to be unlinked. Two multiplex polymerase chain reactions (PCR) were optimized to enable the characterization of all 11 unlinked, polymorphic SSR loci.