Abstract
Croton urucurana, known as “sangra-d’água”, is a tree species with timber and beekeeping potential, and also with medicinal potential. The use of microsatellite markers, simple sequence repeats (SSRs) is efficient in population genetic studies, with high transferability rate between correlated species. The present study aimed to optimize the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol and to test the transferability of seven primers developed for Croton floribundus to C. urucurana. The amplification of 113 accessions from different Brazilian biomes (Cerrado, Pantanal and Mata Atlântica) was tested. For optimization, the concentration and label of the MgCl2 reagent was varied in addition to annealing temperature. Four tested primers showed amplification products, guaranteeing 57% of transferability. This result confirms the efficiency of C. floribundus microsatellite loci for future studies of genetic variability in C. urucurana.
Key words: Genetic variability, sangra-d’água, molecular markers, simple sequence repeats (SSRs), primers.