Use of SSR Markers for Varietal Identification in Fragaria ananassa

The cultivated strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa, is the most economically important soft fruit species because of its production of large berries that are grown primarily for the dessert-fruit market. It belongs to the Rosaceae, a large and diverse family that also includes Malus, Prunus, Rubus, Pyrus and many ornamental species including the genus Rosa. Fragaria x ananassa is an octoploid species originated from the hybridization between two progenitor species F. chiloensis and F. virginiana.

The aim of this work was to develop an easy and reliable molecular tool to characterize the cultivated strawberry varieties.

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSR) have proved to be locus specific, codominant, highly reproducible and highly polymorphic molecular marker. Then, a list of ten SSR was established from the literature and based on their nucleotid motifs and the number of allele. The SSR markers were tested on a subset of the French collection of Fragaria x ananassa varieties. Finally 5 SSRs were selected to span the 7 linkage groups of the Fragaria x ananassa genome and to discriminate the 64 strawberry varieties registered in the French official catalog.

This molecular characterization using SSRs marker is currently used to manage the maintenance control of the collection in the GEVES. The same molecular strategy could be used during the germplasms multiplication and production as a certification tool or to support breeders for variety protection.