Transferability of SSR markers derived from cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) in variety identification

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers are widely used for variety identification because of their abundance, co-dominance, high polymorphism and ease of assay by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Ten published SSR primers derived from cowpea were used to examine their transferability in distinguishing cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.), Chinese cabbage (Brassica chinensis L.), cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) cultivars collected from seed market of Zhejiang Province, China. The results showed that combinations of five, four, two, three SSR primers could authenticate twelve cowpea, twenty Chinese cabbage, ten cauliflower and eighteen cucumber cultivars separately. It seems that SSR primers from cowpea have good transferability to some species of Brassicaceae family and Cucurbitaceae family, which can decline greatly the high cost and intensive labour involved in the development of microsatellite primers used for cultivar identification.