2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Mortiño (Vaccinium floribundum Kuth) is a perennial shrub from the Ericaceae family. This wild species is endemic to the high Andes of South America, and is found exclusively at altitudes between 1600 masl to 4000 masl. In addition, V. floribundum is known to be resistant to drought and low temperatures, adaptations related to the species´ ability to grow in the tundra-like ecosystems of the Andes Mountains known as paramos. This species produces edible berries with ethnobotanic properties for indigenous and rural communities. The uses of the recorded species related to use ceremonial beverage, food purposes and ailments treatment. Mortiño is classified as a vulnerable species by the IUCN due to the fragmentation of its habitat. Therefore, ecological and biological researches are necessary to implement conservation strategies. For this, genetic studies of diversity and population structure can provide information about conservation status. Accordingly, genetic studies are limited and molecular tools are not expanded yet in Mortiño. With these limitations, this study aims to identify and characterize polymorphic microsatellite loci in order to provide molecular tools for future genetic analysis. For this study, primer pairs for 357 microsatellite loci were designed from the genome of one V. floribundum individual from the northern Ecuadorian highlands, using Ilumina paired-end sequencing. From this set, a total of 30 primer pairs were selected based on the number of repeats in each region´s motifs (up to 3 nucleotides per motif) and synthesized. These primers were standardized by establishing their optimal annealing temperature. A total of 26 primer pairs were successfully standardized, from which 20 were selected and screened to determine the polymorphism content in their respective loci. For this purpose, primers were labeled with VIC, 6-FAM, NED and PET, and used to genotype 60 individuals form the Ecuadorian highlands that were selected based on the heterozygosity range published by Cobo et al., (2015). Genotyping was performed through fluorescence detection in capillary electrophoresis and allele peaks were scored using the GeneMarker Software. Polymorphic content of these regions can be assessed by calculating the polymorphic information content (PIC) index for each locus. These species-specific polymorphic microsatellite markers can be used as tools to determine the genetic diversity and population structure of individuals from other regions along high Andes where V. floribundum is found. This set of microsatellite makers is the first to be developed for this species.