Biotech Updates

SSR Markers: DNA Fingerprints for Crop Plants

May 4, 2007

Participants in a recent training workshop “Molecular characterization of inbred lines and populations in maize” held in India gained knowledge and skills in using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for analysis. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers are the tools of choice for molecular studies in many crop species. They require very little DNA to use but can also be misread, if the user does not have the experience to know what to look for, according to CIMMYT molecular geneticist and workshop lecturer Marilyn Warburton.

Presentations covered DNA extraction, detection, and analysis methods, particularly for bulked samples. “The bulked method allows the analysis of relationships between entire plant populations and diversity levels within populations. For maize, this means useful DNA characterization of breeding populations, improved open-pollinated varieties, and even traditional maize landraces, in a single polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reaction,” says Warburton.

The news article is available at http://www.cimmyt.org/english/wps/news/2007/apr/dnaFingerprint.htm.