Publication Type

Journal Article

Journal Name

Fruit Fly Research and Development in Africa - Towards a Sustainable Management Strategy to Improve Horticulture

Publication Date

1-1-2016

Abstract

Microsatellites, also referred to as short tandem repeats (STRs) or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are short sequences of tandem repeats of 1-6 bp in length in clusters of less than 150 bp flanked by sections of non-repetitive unique sequences that are scattered throughout the nuclear genome. These markers are co-dominant and hypervariable, revealing many alleles per locus; they are inherited in Mendelian fashion making them useful for detecting genetic variability within species. Once isolated and characterized, microsatellites can also be used in closely related taxa. Microsatellites can be amplified, even from highly degraded DNA, and are very simple to score. More importantly, these markers are highly polymorphic due to the plethora of variations in the repeat motifs. Several studies have endorsed microsatellite markers as an effective genetic tool to determine the historical distinctiveness of populations, and hence, the designation of species. Being highly polymorphic and selectively neutral, microsatellite markers offer a powerful genetic tool for investigating population structure, colonization processes, temporal and spatial population dynamics and evolutionary trends of insect pests. Furthermore, these markers have been successfully applied to different invasive fruit fly species to infer the evolutionary aspects underlying their invasive processes. Microsatellite markers have offered an analytical tool for the study of fruit fly invasion genetics as exemplified for the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata. Herein, a detailed utility of microsatellite markers in inferring invasion histories of key fruit flies of economic importance is given, with a special focus on invasion into Africa of Bactrocera dorsalis.

Keywords

Co-dominant, Hypervariable, Invasion, Microsatellite markers, Population structure

ISBN

[9783319432267, 9783319432243]

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