Novel microsatellite markers for common fig, Ficus carica L.

To improve and accelerate the investigation of Ficus carica L. genome studies 39 new microsatellites from fig genomic DNA libraries were developed and enriched for GA/TC and GT/AC motifs. Libraries were prepared from local cultivar 'Miljska figa' and positive clones were sequenced. Microsatellite sequences were localized by Perl script MISA and pipelined to Perl scripts for primer development with PRIMER3 program. New microsatellites were genotyped on an ABI 3130 Genetic Analyzer and allele calling was performed using GeneMapper 4.1 software. Among 39 newly developed microsatellite loci, there are 29 amplified single microsatellite loci with polymorphic alleles. In a set of eight fig trees, the number of detected alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 5. New microsatellite loci not only represent a tool for diversity studies, but provide an important new resource for determining genetic relationships between cultivated and wild fig forms, investigation of fig population structure, and help to resolve confusion in denomination of fig genetic resources.