Abstract

Phreatophyte species of Prosopis genus is very important to natural ecosystems in Africa, America and Asia due to its use as source of food, seeds and agroforestry. These species are comprised of two main sections depending the shape of the fruits: Strombocarpa and Algarobia section. In northern Chile, endangered species as Prosopis tamarugo is one of the main agroforestry tree used in reforestation and conservation programmes. Likewise, from a genetic point there is little genomic information to develop specific SSR primers in species belonging to the Strombocarpa section although previous studies carry out in Algarobia section have concluded a high number of SSRs. In this research, through the NGS sequencing we set out the objective of searching and developing SSR markers in Prosopis tamarugo, in addition to assessing their transferability to other species in the Strombocarpa section. Thus, we determined DNA isolation and sequencing, SSR loci markers by PCR amplification techniques and the validation of SSR markers in P. tamarugo. These data, was compared with others polymorphism of Strombocarpa and Algarobia Prosopis species. We found a great difference on the percentage of amplified SSR markers between species of the Strombocarpa and Algarobia section, this latter presenting only 18% of amplification. In P. tamarugo a total of 101,336 microsatellite loci were found and mononucleotide repeats were the most abundant, accounting for 75,164 (74.17%) of total SSRs. Moreover, six microsatellite markers developed for the P. chilensis and P. alba species showed transferability to species of the Strombocarpa section, such as P. flerox and P. torquata, but only three SSR markers showed acceptable amplification. This study highlights for the first time the genomic DNA of Prosopis tamarugo and the transferability to species of the Strombocarpa section as a powerful tool for the future genetic management and conservation of these endangered species.