Increasing Accuracy and Throughput in Large-Scale Microsatellite Fingerprinting of Cacao Field Germplasm Collections

Abstract In this study we report on increasing the rate and accuracy of microsatellite fingerprinting of accessions in Theobroma cacao L. field germplasm collections with a medium-throughput capillary sequencing system. We examined the use of a reduced number of microsatellite loci to decrease the time and materials required for fingerprinting and determined the best available microsatellite loci for accurately separating accessions. A subset of nine informative loci that could separate sixty accessions into the same genetic groupings as a complete set of 37 loci was found. Stringent probability of identity values (i.e. chance of unique accession) was highly influenced (r=−0.996; P<0.001) by the number of alleles utilised in the fingerprinting set but the composition of the primer set was more important when choosing discriminatory loci. DNA pooling to reduce the number of samples was also investigated. There was a relatively high level of mixture within plots (59% of 54 plots examined) of the field genebank, which opposed the use of a pooling strategy to fingerprint the multiple trees of an accession plot in the collection

Identification of the varietal origin of processed loose-leaf tea based on analysis of a single leaf by SNP nanofluidic array

Tea is an important cash crop, representing a $40 billion-a-year global market. Differentiation of the tea market has resulted in increasing demand for tea products that are sustainably and responsibly produced. Tea authentication is important because of growing concerns about fraud involving premium tea products. Analytical technologies are needed for protection and value enhancement of high-quality brands. For loose-leaf teas, the challenge is that the authentication needs to be established on the basis of a single leaf, so that the products can be traced back to the original varieties. A new generation of molecular markers offers an ideal solution for authentication of processed agricultural products. Using a nanofluidic array to identify variant SNP sequences, we tested genetic identities using DNA extracted from single leaves of 14 processed commercial tea products. Based on the profiles of 60 SNP markers, the genetic identity of each tea sample was unambiguously identified by multilocus matching and ordination analysis. Results for repeated samples of multiple tea leaves from the same products (using three independent DNA extractions) showed 100% concordance, showing that the nanofluidic system is a reliable platform for generating tea DNA fingerprints with high accuracy. The method worked well on green, oolong, and black teas, and can handle a large number of samples in a short period of time. It is robust and cost-effective, thus showing high potential for practical application in the value chain of the tea industry

Genetic Diversity and Structure of Managed and Semi-natural Populations of Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) in the Huallaga and Ucayali Valleys of Peru

• Background and Aims Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is indigenous to the Amazon region of South America, and it is well known that the Peruvian Amazon harbours a large number of diverse cocoa populations. A small fraction of the diversity has been collected and maintained as an ex-situ germplasm repository in Peru. However, incorrect labelling of accessions and lack of information on genetic diversity have hindered efficient conservation and use of this germplasm. This study targeted assessment of genetic diversity and population structure in a managed and a semi-natural population