SCAR marker for sex identification of Pistacia chinensis Bunge (Anacardiaceae)

Pistacia chinensis Bunge is a dioecious plant that originated in China, and its sex cannot be identified at the early stage of cultivation by only its appearance. Recent studies show that the seed of P. chinensis is an ideal feedstock for biofuel production. To guide the cultivation of this energy plant scientifically, a new method is urgently needed to identify the sex of P. chinensis seedlings. In this paper, from 21 random-amplified polymorphic DNA primers and 20 inter-simple sequence repeat primers, 2 sex-specific primers (S1 and S281) were identified that can amplify female-specific fragments of 473 and 1242 bp, respectively. However, only 1 fragment (FS281) was converted successfully into a sequence-characterized amplified region marker using S281-1 and S281-2 primers. When the annealing temperature was 64 degrees C, a 636-bp specific sequence appeared in all female specimens but was absent in all the male samples tested. This study will offer some clues to sex selection in P. chinensis plantations.