Intra-allelic variation in introns of the S13-RNase allele distinguishes sweet, wild and sour cherries

The cherry (Prunus avium), a self-incompatible diploid species, and the sour cherry (Prunus cerasus), a self-incompatible or self-compatible allotetraploid species derived from P. avium and Prunus fruticosa, share several S-RNase alleles, including S13. An inactive form, S13°, is found in some sour cherries. Two (AT) microsatellites are associated with allele S13-RNase, one in the first intron and one in the second. Their length polymorphisms were studied in 14 sweet and 17 wild cherries (both P. avium) and in 42 sour cherries. Fluorescent primers amplifying each microsatellite were designed and amplification products sized on an automated sequencer. Variants ranged from 247 to 273 bp for the first intron microsatellite and from 308 to 322 bp for the second. There were 34 combinations and, surprisingly, the lengths of the two microsatellites were correlated. Generally, the sweet, wild and sour cherries had different combinations, and the four examples of S13°-RNase were associated with three different combinations. Certain sequences associated with the microsatellites match footprints of transposons. The distribution of combinations indicated little overlap between the three populations analysed and provided useful insights into relationships of some of the accessions allowing some parentages to be checked. In the diploid sweet and wild cherries, S13 variants presumably resulted from slippage during replication, but in the tetraploid sour cherries, which can have more than one copy of S13 or S13°, intra-allelic crossing over may have generated new variants. The possible involvement of transposable elements in the origin of these microsatellites is considered.