Isolation and characterization of microsatellite markers for analysis of molecular variation in the medicinal plant Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don)

Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don, commonly known as Madagascar periwinkle, is a plant of great medicinal value. In this study microsatellite markers were developed and utilized for analysis of genetic diversity in C. roseus. In order to isolate microsatellite sequences, two small insert genomic libraries of C. roseus cv. Nirmal were constructed and screened with CA, CT, GC and GCG oligonucleotide repeats. Sixty-five microsatellite motifs were identified, from which 38 functional STMS primer pairs were designed and validated. Out of these, 24 STMS markers were used to evaluate the genetic polymorphism in 37 genotypes, which comprised of 32 accessions of C. roseus, a single accession each of two related species (C. trichophyllus and C. pusillus) and one accession each of three related genera (Vinca minor, Thevetia peruviana and Nerium indicum). The 24 STMS markers detected 26 loci with two markers amplifying more than one locus. A total of 124 alleles were amplified in the 37 genotypes ranging from 2 to 10 alleles with an average of 4.76 alleles per locus. The high average expected heterozygosity (HE) value of 0.56 and observed heterozygosity (HO) value of 0.52 established the efficiency of the STMS markers for discriminating the C. roseus genotypes. Nei and Li's similarity coefficients were calculated and a UPGMA-based dendrogram was constructed which clearly distinguished all genotypes except two pairs. Sequence analysis of the length variant alleles at three STMS loci revealed that the variation in the copy number of repeat motifs was the major source of length polymorphism within C. roseus. However, isolated point mutations and indels in the microsatellite flanking regions (MFRs) of homologus loci from other species also contributed to size homoplasy and allelic size variation. This study is the first report of microsatellite development and utilization in C. roseus, providing significant insights into its genome structure and organization.