Molecular Characterization of <i>Prunus</i> Cultivars from Romania by Microsatellite Markers

In Romania, Prunus species have great economic and social importance. With the introduction of new cultivars arises the need to preserve and characterize the local Prunus germplasm. Thus, a set of 24 polymorphic SSRs were selected for the overall characterization, including 10 peach, 11 apricot and 5 nectarine cultivars. The average number of alleles per locus (Na = 1.958), in addition to overall observed (Ho = 0.299) and expected heterozygosity (He = 0.286) were lower or comparable to those reported in similar studies, probably explained by the smaller number of analyzed cultivars restricted to a smaller geographic area. Among 26 genotypes a total of 101 alleles were identified, of which 46 alleles were in peach, 55 in apricot and 40 in nectarine, respectively. Six alleles from six loci (CPPCT-030, Pchgms-003, Pchgms-004, Pchgms-010, UDP97-401, UDP98-405) were common to all taxonomic groups. The most informative loci were BPPCT-025, Pchgms-021 and UDP96-001 in peach; BPPCT-025, BPPCT-001 and UDP96-001 in nectarine; and BPPCT-002, BPPCT-025, Pchgms-004, Pchgms-020 and Pchgms-021 in apricot. Clustering and genetic similarity analysis indicated that the degree of interspecific divergence in peach and nectarine cultivars was less than that in peach and apricot. These results will be useful to prevent confusion between cultivars, to improve breeding strategies and to benefit the management of Prunus cultivars bred in Romania