Microsatellite primers for Sorbus torminalis and related species

This study reports the cloning and characterization of nine microsatellite primer pairs in a scattered woody species (Sorbus torminalis), and shows their potential for further use in 36 species of the Maloideae, a Rosaceae subfamily containing important fruit crop and ornamental species. These primers were designed from a microsatellite library constructed from genomic DNA of S. torminalis and enriched for CA and GA repeats. Genotyping 48 S. torminalis of a natural population with the six best markers yielded a mean of 10.7 alleles per locus, and an expectation of exclusion probability for paternity analysis greater than 0.993.