SOME NEW CHERRY MICROSATELLITES AND THEIR TRANSFERABILITY TO OTHER STONE FRUITS

Nineteen microsatellite primer pairs developed in cherry, EMPA001 to 019, were tested in six accessions of each of almond, apricot and myrobalan. Four primer pairs (EMPA001, 002, 005 and 017) revealed useful polymorphism in these other three crops. Of these EMPA002 and 017 were previously shown to be polymorphic in three peach cultivars and so could be useful for genotyping a wide range of Prunus. The genotypes of 14 cherry cultivars determined with the 19 primer pairs and of the six almond, apricot and myrobalan accessions determined with the two sets of ‘universal’ primers are presented in this report.