To overcome this problem primers with a single nucleotide artificial mismatch introduced within the three bases closest to the 3 end SNP site have been used in ASPCR However for one SNP site nine possible mismatches can be generated among the three ID: 55333
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METHODOLOGYOpenAccess Animprovedallele-specificPCRprimerdesign methodforSNPmarkeranalysisandits application JingLiu 1 ,ShunmouHuang ,MeiyuSun 1 ,ShengyiLiu 1 ,YumeiLiu 2 ,WanxingWang 2 ,XiurongZhang 1 , HanzhongWang 1 andWeiHua 1* Abstract Background: AlthoughSingleNucleotidePolymorphism(SNP)markerisaninvaluabletoolforpositionalcloning, associationstudyandevolutionaryanalysis,lowSNPdetectionefficiencybyAllele-SpecificPCR(AS-PCR)stillrestricts itsapplicationasmolecularmarkerlikeothermarkerssuchasSimpleSequenceRepeat(SSR).Toovercomethis problem,primerswithasinglenucleotideartificialmismatchintroducedwithinthethreebasesclosesttothe3 end (SNPsite)havebeenusedinAS-PCR.However,foroneSNPsite,ninepossiblemismatchescanbegenerated amongthethreebasesandhowtoselecttherightonetoincreaseprimerspecificityisstillachallenge. Results: Inthisstudy,differentfromthepreviousreportswhichusedalimitedquantityofprimersrandomly (severalordozenpairs),wesystematicallyinvestigatedtheeffectsofmismatchbasepairs,mismatchsitesandSNP typesonprimerspecificitywith2071primerpairs,whichweredesignedbasedonSNPsfrom Brassicaoleracea 01-88and02-12.Accordingtothestatisticalresults,we(1)foundthattheprimersdesignedwithSNP(A/T),in whichthemismatch(CA)inthe3 rd end,hadthehighestallele-specificity(81.9%).This informationcouldbeusedwhendesigningprimersfromalargequantityofSNPsites;(2)performedtheprimer designprinciplewhichformstheoneandonlybestprimerforeverySNPtype.Thisisneverreportedinprevious studies.Additionally,wefurtheridentifieditsavailabilityinrapeseed( BrassicanapusL. )andsesame( Sesamum indicum ).Highpolymorphismpercent(75%)ofthedesignedprimersindicateditisageneralmethodandcanbe appliedinotherspecies. Conclusion: ThemethodprovidedinthisstudycangenerateprimersmoreeffectivelyforeverySNPsitecompared tootherAS-PCRprimerdesignmethods.Thehighallele-specificefficiencyoftheSNPprimerallowsthefeasibility forlow-tomoderate-throughputSNPanalysesandismuchsuitableforgenemapping,map-basedcloning,and marker-assistedselectionincrops. Keywords: SNP,AS-PCR,Mismatch,Polymorphism,Destabilization Introduction SingleNucleotidePolymorphisms(SNPs)aresinglebase differencesbetweenDNAofdifferentindividuals.Once discovered,SNPscanbeconvertedintogeneticmarkers thatcanbeassayed[1,2].Asthemostabundantandsta- bileformofgeneticvariationinmostorganism genomes,SNPsaremoresuitableforgenotypingmar- kerscomparedtotheconventionalmarkerssuchas AFLP(Amplifiedfragmentlengthpolymorphism)and SSR(SimpleSequenceRepeat).Withthedevelopmentof bio-technology,SNPsarebecomingfavoredgeneticmar- kersthatareusedinmarker-assistedbreeding[3],map- basedcloning[4],studyofevolutionaryconservations betweendifferentspecies[5,6],andthedetectionofrisk- associatedalleleslinkedtohumandiseases[7]. *Correspondence: huawei@oilcrops.cn Equalcontributors 1 KeyLaboratoryofBiologyandGeneticImprovementofOilCrops,Ministry ofAgriculture,OilCropsResearchInstituteoftheChineseAcademyof AgriculturalSciences,Wuhan430062,People sRepublicofChina Fulllistofauthorinformationisavailableattheendofthearticle PLANT METHODS ©2012Liuetal.;licenseeBioMedCentralLtd.ThisisanOpenAccessarticledistributedunderthetermsoftheCreative CommonsAttributionLicense(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0),whichpermitsunrestricteduse,distribution,and reproductioninanymedium,providedtheoriginalworkisproperlycited. Liu etal.PlantMethods 2012, 8 :34 http://www.plantmethods.com/content/8/1/34 Recently,massiveparallelsequencingplatformssuchasGSFLX(Roche),Solexa(Illumina)andSOLID(Ap-pliedBiosstems)havesignificantlyreducedthecostofhighthroughoutsequencing[8].Alargenumberofgen-omesandtranscriptomeshavebeenrapidlysequencedusingthesenewplatformstoidentifynovelSNPsinmaize[9],rapeseed[10]andhuman[11]etc.Alargevarietyoftechniquesforhigh-throughputSNPgenotyp-inghavealsobeendevelopedusingTaqman[12],Ampli-fluor[13],genomere-sequencing[14,15],andSNParrays[16,17].Thesetechniquesareexpensiveandre-quirespecializedequipments,whichcostmorestandardprimersandarenotpracticalforassayinglow-tomoderate-throughputSNPs.Hence,thereisaneedforsimpleandaccurategenotypingassaysthatcanbeimplementedinlaboratorieslackingaccesstosophisti-catedequipment.TraditionalSNPgenotypingmethodssuchasCAPs(TheCleavedAmplifiedPolymorphicSequence),dCAPs(derivedCAPS),andAS-PCR(Allele-specificPCR)arewidelyusedforlow-throughputapplicationsinplantre-search.Inapplication,CAPSanddCAPSarerestrictedbyendnucleasesitesthatcouldbeinefficientandnotcost-effective[18-20].AS-PCRisbasedontheextensionofprimeronlywhenits3endisaperfectlycomplemen-tedtothetemplate[21].Inprinciple,SNPscanbedetectedusingallele-specificPCRprimersbasedontheterminalnucleotideofaprimerthatcorrespondstoaspecificSNPsite.However,reliablediscriminationbe-tweentheallelesisnotsufficienttoachieveusingthisdescribedmethod.Toovercomethisproblem,allele-specificprimerswithanadditionalbasepairchangewithinthethreebasesclosesttotheSNPsitebetweenalleleshavebeenused[21,22].EachspecificSNPsiteinanallelecangenerateatleast18possibleprimerswithonemismatchbase[23].TheSNAPERprogramgener-atesalistofupto16possibleprimersperSNPsiteforeachallele[23].Therefore,choosingadditionalmis-matchestoincreaseprimerspecificityhasbeenachal-lengeforAS-PCR[23].SomestudieshaveproposedcriteriafordesigningAS-PCRprimers.Hayashietal(2004)proposedthatbasepairmismatchescreatedthroughT-GorC-Atransversionsatthirdbasefrom3endcouldincreasetheallele-specificity[24].Hirotsu(2010)identifiedA-TtransversionandA-Gtransitionwereusefulbasepairmismatchesforimprovementofallele-specificamplification[25].TheWASPtoolcouldalsobeusedtointroducemismatchesatthepenultimatetotheterminal)baseoftheprimer[26,27].How-ever,moststudiesusedonlyalimitedquantityofpri-mers,whichmighthavesomeinfluencesonefficiencyofSNPprimerspecificity.Inthisstudy,over2000primerpairs,whichweredesignedbasedonSNPsbetweenB.oleracealines01-88and02-12,wereusedtoanalyzetheeffectsofdifferentSNPtypes,mismatchbasesandsiteswithinthethreebasesclosesttothe3endonprimerspecificity.Basedontheseresults,weadvancedtheSNPprimerdesignprinciple.ComparedtotraditionalSNPgenotypingmethods,ourmethodcouldprovideacost-effectiveal-ternativeforhighefficientspecificprimersandwouldgreatlyfacilitateplantresearch.SNPanalysisofB.oleracea01-88and02-12genomeTheassemblyofgenomesequencesofB.oleracea02-12hasbeenaccomplished(unpublished).ToidentifySNPsbetweenB.oleracealines01-88and02-12,gen-omeDNAofline01-88wasre-sequencedandatotalof119millionreadswereobtained.Togethigh-qualitySNPs,thesequencedatawassubjectedtostringentfil-tering:Thereadsfromline01-88werecomparedtothesequencesofline02-12usingBLASTN.Sitescontaining Table1PutativeSNPsidentifiedbetweenB.oleraceagenomesof01-88and02-12SNP(01-88/02-12)No.ofeverySNPtypeCausedbyTotalNo.oftransitionandtransversionA/G201247transition806387C/T202316G/A202801transitionT/C200023A/C79813transversion615726G/T79800C/A80029transversionT/G79782A/T99848transversionT/A99743G/C48372transversionC/G48339etal.PlantMethodsPage2of9http://www.plantmethods.com/content/8/1/34 tri-allelicorhighdegreeofpolymorphismwereomitted. Thesequencescontainingover8readsmappedto uniquesitesinthegenomesequencewereextracted fromline01-88.Pairwisealignmentwasusedtoevalu- atetheSNPsbetweengenomesequencesof01-88and 02-12.Thealignmentresultrevealedatotalof1,422,113 SNPsexistedbetween B.oleracea lines01-88and02-12 (anaverageofoneSNPinevery360bpfragment) (Table1).AnalysistotheSNPsshowedoverhalf(56.7%, 806387/1422113)ofthenucleotidechangesweretransi- tions(A-GorC-T).Transversions(A-T,A-C,C-Gand G-T)accountedfor43.3%(615726/1422113)ofthe detectedSNPs(Table1). TofurtheridentifytheputativeSNPsandestimatethe proportionoffalsepositives,96SNPsitesderivedfrom only8-readsequenceswerechosenrandomly.Primers weredesignedaccordingtothegenomesequencesnear theseSNPsitesandallampliconscouldgenerateabout 500bpfragmentsinwhichcontainingthecorresponding SNPs.Sangersequencingresultsshowed93SNPswere identicalwiththeputativeSNPsand3SNPswereun- predictedorundetectable.Thisindicatedaveryhigh proportionofSNPsreallyexistedbetweenlines01-88 and02-12. DesignandefficiencydetectionofSNPprimers Primerdesignstrategyforallele-specificPCRwasillu- stratedinFigure1.PrimerP1,whichwasdesignedbased on02-12genomesequence,formedamismatch(TG)in 3 endwiththeDNAsequenceof01-88.Whileinmost cases,itstillcouldamplifythebandwith01-88effi- ciently.Afterintroducinganothermismatch(GA)inthe 2 nd siteclosesttothe3 endinprimerP2,itcouldonly amplifythebandwith02-12(Figure1a).Basedonthe methoddescribedbyCha etal (1992),mismatchsites andmismatchbasesclosesttotheSNPsitewereran- domlychosen[21].Therefore,ninepossiblemismatches couldbegeneratedamongthethreebasesclosestto 3 endofprimer(Figure1b). Inthisstudy,1686 B.oleracea SNPsincluding12kinds ofSNPswerechosenforprimerdesign(Additionalfile1). Amongthem,someofthoseSNPscouldformthesame 3 endmismatchesin01-88withallele-specificprimers. Therefore,allSNPscouldbeclassifiedintoeightkindsin- cludingA/GandC/T,T/CandG/A,A/CandG/T,T/G andC/A,A/T,T/A,C/G,G/C(Table2)basedonmis- matchtypes(forexample,forSNPsA/GandC/T,the3 endmismatchoftheallele-specificprimerdesignedfor 02-12isTGin01-88).Moreover,forconvenienceofdata analysis,wefurthercompressedintofourSNPtypesin- cludingA/G(T/C),A/C(T/G),A/T(T/A)andG/C(C/G) basedontheirdestabilizationeffectsinmismatchbase pairs(Table2)[28,29]. Inthisstudy,alltheprimerswereusedtoamplifythe genomeDNAoflines01-88and02-12,andPCRproducts weredetectedon2.5%agarosegelbyelectrophoresis.The Figure1 SchematicrepresentationoftheAS-PCRprimerdesign.a ,PrimerP1formsaperfectmatchwithallelefrom02-12,butamismatch basepairatthe3 endwiththeDNAsequenceofallelefrom01-88.Itcouldamplifythebandinbothoftwolines01-88and02-12.PrimerP2 formstwomismatchbasepairswithallelefrom01-88atthe3 endandinthe3 rd nucleotidefromthe3 end,whileamismatchbasepairinthe 3 rd nucleotidewithallelefrom02-12.Itamplifiedthebandonlyin02-12. b ,SchematicrepresentationofdifferentmismatchesduringtheSNP primerdesign. Liu etal.PlantMethods 2012, 8 :34 Page3of9 http://www.plantmethods.com/content/8/1/34 resultsshowedthatamongthe1686primerpairs,490pairs(29.1%)displayedpolymorphism(Table3).WhenclassifiedbySNPtypes,thepercentsofpolymorphismofA/G(C/T),A/C(G/T),A/T(T/A),C/G(G/C)were26.4%(111/420),31.3%(131/418),34%(148/435)and37.5%(155/413)respectively.Whenclassifiedbymismatchsites,polymorphismpercentsofthe2and4baseloca-tionclosesttotheSNPsiteswere25.1%(139/554),32.9%(189/575)and29.1%(162/557),respectively.IfSNPtypeandmismatchsiteinprimerswerebothconsidered,thepolymorphismpercentofSNPA/T(T/A)whichhadmis-matchesinthe3sitewas45.9%(72/157),followedbyC/G(G/C)inthe2sitewith43.3%(58/134)and3sitewith39.4%(56/142).ThepolymorphismpercentofSNPA/G(C/T)was26.4%(111/420),whichalsohasthelowestpolymorphismsinallmismatchsites.Moreover,thepolymorphismpercentsofSNPprimersclassifiedbythetypesofmismatchbasesinthe2and4mismatchsiteswereanalyzed(Table4).Resultsshowedthatpolymorphismpercentsof8mismatchtypeswerecloselyequivalentinthe2sites(22.5%-26.4%).Highpolymorphismpercentsappearedintwomismatchbasepairsinthe3baselocation(CA,46.8%,37/79;TG,38.6%,27/70).Atthe4baseawayfromtheSNPsite,thepolymorphismpercentsofprimerswithmismatchbasepairsGA,TC,TTandCCwereover30%(31.7%-33.3%).BasedontheresultsinTable3andTable4,wein-ferredthatprimers,whichhadCAmismatchinthe3baseclosesttoSNPsiteA/T(T/A),hadthehighestpolymorphismbetweenlines01-88and02-12.Toiden-tifythisconjecture,385primersdesignedfromSNPA/T(T/A),whichcontainedGorTbaseinthe3nucleo-tide,werefurtherchosenforpolymorphismanalysis(Additionalfile2).Thedetectionresultsshowedthat295SNPprimerswerepolymorphic(295/385,76.6%)be-tweenlines01-88and02-12.WhentheseprimerswereclassifiedbasedontheSNPs(A/TorT/A)in3end,thespecificitypercentofSNP(A/T)(158/193,81.9%)washigherthanthatofSNP(T/A)(137/192,71.4%)(Figure2aandFigure2b).ApplicationofthedesignmethodBesidesthehighestpolymorphicprimersmentionedabove,thehighpolymorphicprimerscouldbefoundineverySNPtypebasedonourresults.Theprincipleofpri-merdesignisdescribedasfollowed:firstly,foreverykindofSNP,themismatchsite(the2and4siteclosesttotheSNPsite)ischosenaccordingtotheresultofpoly-morphismpercentinTable3.FortheprimersofthreeSNPtypesA/T(T/A),A/C(G/T)andA/G(C/T),thehighestpolymorphismpercentsare45.9%,37.4%and30.7%,respectivelyandthemismatchesinprimersarealllocatedinthe3site.WhilefortheSNPtypeC/G(G/C),themismatchesinthe2siteclosestto3endofprimersshowhighestpolymorphismpercent(43.3%).Forthebase Table2DestabilizationstrengthofeightcombinationsofmismatchnucleotidepairingSNPtypesmismatchtypesatendofprimerinDestabilizationstrengthofmismatchtype(01-88/02-12)A/GTGStrongC/TGTG/AACT/CCAA/CTCWeakG/TCTC/AAGT/GGAA/TTTStrongandMediumT/AAAG/CCCStrongandMediumC/GGG Table3EffectofmismatchsitesandSNPtypesonthespecificityofallele-specificPCRsitesclosesttothe3ofprimersPolymorphismpercentofSNPPolymorphismpercentofprimersforeverySNPtypeA/G,C/TA/C,G/TA/T,T/AC/G,G/CThe2base25.1%23.0%26.8%26.6%43.3%(139/554)(32/139)(37/138)(38/143)(58/134)The3base32.9%30.7%37.4%45.9%39.4%(189/575)(42/137)(52/139)(72/157)(56/142)The4base29.1%25.7%29.8%28.1%29.9%(162/557)(37/144)(42/141)(38/135)(41/137)Totalnumber29.1%26.4%31.3%34%37.5%(490/1686)(111/420)(131/418)(148/435)(155/413)etal.PlantMethodsPage4of9http://www.plantmethods.com/content/8/1/34 inmismatchsite(the2 nd ,3 rd and4 th siteclosesttothe SNPsite),thereexistthreedifferentmismatchstylesfor everykindofbase.Thebestmismatchstyleischosen accordingtothestatisticalresultsfromTable4.Forex- ample,ifthereisaGinthe3 rd site,themismatchesof CC,CAandCTwillbeformed.Thepolymorphismper- centofprimerswithCA(46.8%)mismatchishighestcom- paredtothatofCC(23.9%)andCT(32.1%). Wefurtheridentifiedtheusabilityoftheprimerdesign methodonrapeseedandsesame.Duringrapeseedoilcon- tentresearch,withDHlinesofF1generationbetween zy036and51070,whichhadbeenreportedbyHua etal [30],weidentifiedaQTLrelatedtooilcontentlocatedon A2chromosome.BecauseoflackofmarkersintheQTL interval,wedesignedatotalof20SNPprimersbetween markerO110C05andmarkerBrSF000036-9usingour Table4Effectofartificialbasemismatchesinthreemismatchsitesonthespecificityofallele-specificPCR Mismatchsites closesttothe3 end ofprimers Mismatch types Polymorphism percentof primers Mismatch types Polymorphism percentof primers Mismatch types Polymorphism percentof primers Mismatch types Polymorphism percentof primers The2 nd baseTC26.2%GA22.5%CA25.7%AA23.8% (17/65)(16/71)(19/74)(15/63) TG26.4%GG24.2%CC26.1%TT25.6% (19/72)(15/62)(18/69)(20/78) The3 rd baseTC32.1%GA28.3%CA46.8%AA30.6% (26/81)(17/60)(37/79)(26/85) TG38.6%GG30.4%CC23.9%TT29.7% (27/70)(21/69)(16/67)(19/64) The4 th baseTC32.9%GA31.7%CA28.0%AA26.8% (24/73)(26/82)(21/75)(19/71) TG23.3%GG25.8%CC33.3%TT32.4% (14/60)(16/62)(22/66)(22/68) Figure2 AnalysisofspecificityforSNPprimersof B.oleracea .a ,1-24primerpairs,whichcorrespondedtoBo001-Bo024,wereintroduced withaCAbasepairmismatchinthe3 rd nucleotideclosestto3 end(A/TSNPtype,AAmismatch). b ,24primerpairs,whichcorrespondedto Bo194-Bo217,wereintroducedwithaCAbasepairmismatchinthe3 rd nucleotideclosestto3 end(A/TSNPtypes,TTmismatch).A,01-88;B,02-12. Liu etal.PlantMethods 2012, 8 :34 Page5of9 http://www.plantmethods.com/content/8/1/34 method(Table5).Resultsshowedthat15primerswerelocatedintheQTLinterval(Figure3).Thepolymorphismpercentofprimersis(15/20,75%).Another24primerscamefromA/TSNPsbetweentwosesamelines28-31andZZM2289werealsodesigned.Andamongthem,18SNPmarkersweredetectedtohavepolymorphism(18/24,75%)(Additionalfile3).BothresultsfromrapeseedandsesameindicatedthattheSNPprimermethodcouldbeusedinotherspecies.DiscussionInrecentyears,variousmethodsforhigh-throughputSNPanalysishavebeendescribed[28].AlthoughthesemethodsarehighlyefficientcomparedtoothertraditionalSNPgenotypingbyelectrophoresis,significantinvestmentsofexpensiveprobes,microchipsorspecialinstrumentationhavelimitedtheiruseinmostlaboratories.Fortraditionallow-throughputSNPgenotypingmethods,themaintimeandlabor,andlowefficiencyofspecificprimerarestillchallenges[27].TheAllele-specificPCRmethodwasdevelopedforalleleanalysisofclinicallysignificantmuta-tions.Tofacilitatereliablediscriminationbetweentwoalleleshighly,theadditionofartificialmismatcheswithinthethreebasesfrom3endoftheprimersmightbebenefi-cial[23].Althoughthethirdpositionfromthe3endhasbeendetectedasthebesttoplaceamismatchbaseinprimerpreviously[24],wereallydonotknowwhichkindofmismatch(foreverybase,therearethreekindsofmis-matches)isthebestchoiceinthe3position.Inthisstudy,differentfromthepreviousreportswhichusedonlyalimitedquantityofprimers,alargeamountofSNPpri-mersdesignedbyintroducingmismatcheswithinthethreebasesclosesttothe3endofprimerswereusedtosolvethisproblem.Generally,AS-PCRprimersdesignedrandomlyhadalowallelicspecificityrateofapproximately30%,whichwasconsistentwithourresults(29.1%).However,mis-matchsites(2,and4siteclosesttothe3end)haddifferenteffectsonthepolymorphicefficiencyofprimers.Inourstudy,wefoundprimerpolymorphicpercentwaslowestinthe2baselocationbecausemanyprimerscouldnotamplifyanybandsinbothofthelines01-88and02-12.Forthe4baselocation,thepolymorphismeffi-cienciesofallmismatchtypeswerealmostequivalent(under30%).Thehighestpolymorphicpercentwasfoundinthe3baselocatedclosesttotheSNPsite,whichwasobservedbyHayashietalsimilarly(2004)[24].Accordingtotheresultsofthermodynamicsofmis-matchesreportedbyPeyretetal(1999)andLittle(2001)[28,29],themismatchbasepairshaddifferentdestabilizationeffectsthatcouldbedividedintoweak,medium,andstrongstrengthofdestabilization.Therefore,duringdesignofAS- Table520primerspairsdesignedaccordingtoSNPsbetweenrapeseedzy036and51070MismatchsiteclosesttoendofbasepairsForwardprimer(5)Reverseprimer(5Br94494C/G2CTAGTTACATAGGTCCACAATCATAGAATAAACTTTTCTACCATTCGGAGCCTAAATAGAGGTAAAAGGTGBr27005T/A3CAAAGATTGTTTCAAACGCAAAAATATACAACAAAATCAACGAATTTCACACTTTAGTAATGCACTGAGATTTBr31054T/A3CACAAGTGAGACTGAATCCACAATAAAGGATGCTACTTCGGATAAAATCCCCAGCTCTACTATACATTCCBr43193T/A3CACCTTTTATTTGATCACAGGGGTTTGTAGGAACTTCAGCCAGTAACGTCCCCCACATCBr51190T/A3CAAAATAATGGCATGCTCCTCTTTAATCTACCAAACTTATTCGGTTCCGAAAATAATGCGATGCBr34590T/A3CAAAGTGACGGTTCTTTAAGTTATCAGAGTCTCCTAATAGATTTGGGATTAAAATCAAGTTGTGGGTTAGTTTTBr03637T/A3CAATTACAGAATGTGTGTGCAAACAGAAATACATTACTTGTGTCCCCATTTCGTGTAATCATAAAGCTAGBr39807T/A3CACGAGACTCGGGTCGTTGAGTGGAAATATCCTAAAGACTTCTCCCACAAATCCACCATBr68275T/A3CATGCCGCATGTATGTCGGAGATGATAATAACCGAAACCCTAGTAGGCTAGGCGCBr29253T/A3CATGGCGCTAAATCCAAGAAGAAGTCCATTAATTACCACCTTTCTTACCCTTGTTACTCATGACAGBr61715T/A3CATGAATAGATTCTTCCGCATCACCTTTTAAAGTTAATCTTGTTTCAAGAGAAATTGAACAAGCTGCAGTBr24494C/G2GTGTCAATAATACTAGCAAACATACAACAGCGAGATTCTTGCAAATTTTAGTCAAAGTCGGTAGAAAATAGATCBr06710T/A3CATCTTGTCGATGCTGAGCTGGCAAATACTGGTCAAGCTCACACACACTCCACGTCBr00855T/A3CACACTATGGGCTATGGTGGGTCCTTCAATTGATTGGAGTTCTGTGCTCGTAGTTTTGCBr71197C/G2GTTATGGCACACAGACAGAGTTCCAGGAAATCTCTTCCAGTTCGATATCTTGGTCTGTCCCBr07809C/G2GTCTCCGCCCACATGTTATAATATGTCAGTATATCTTCTAGTGAATGGAGAAAGAGAACAAAGCCTACAGTACABr02456T/A3CAGCCTTCAGAAGGTCTGGAAACTGGATTGTTCGATGGACTTCACTACCTCCCATAGCTBr77080T/A3CACGGATAGTTTCGGGTTCGGTTCGATTACCGAACGGGTACCCGAATATATAAAAATATTAATTBr77646T/A3CATCCACCAGAATTGTGTGATGGCACTTACTGAAAAACGTCAGGTCAATGTATCAACTTCGATAABr14184G/A3ACGATTAACCGATGAAAGTCTCAGTGCCACAGTCGTCTGTGACTCCCAAACACTTGGATAGetal.PlantMethodsPage6of9http://www.plantmethods.com/content/8/1/34 PCRprimers,theeffectsofmismatchesnomatterin3 end orwithinthethreebasesclosesttothe3 endofprimers shouldbebothconsidered[26,2 7].Inthisstudy,forconveni- entanalysis,wecompressedfourSNPtypesincludingA/T (T/A),A/G(T/C),A/C(T/G),andG/C(C/G)basedontheir destabilizationeffectsofmismatchbasepairsformedin 3 endofprimers.Amongthem,primersgeneratedfromSNP typesA/G(T/C)hadthelowestdetectionefficiencyinall mismatchsites.ItwasreasonablebecauseACandGTmis- matcheshadweakdestabilizationstrength.Theprimersin- cludingthesespecificmismatchesat3 endwereeasierto makeamplificationinbothalleles. Similarly,mismatchtypeswithinthethreebasesclosest tothe3 endaffectspecificitiesofprimers.Inthe3 rd base, CAandTG(thehighestpolymorphicmismatches) belongedtoweakdestabilizationstrengthmismatches. ThemismatchesGA,TC,TT,andCC(thehigherpoly- morphicmismatches)locatedatthe4 th baseawayfrom theSNPsitebelongedtothestrongdestabilization strengthmismatches.Fromtheresults,wededucedthat SNPs(A/T),whichcontainedCAmismatchesinthe3 rd nucleotidefromthe3 endoftheprimers,hadthehighest allele-specification.Accordingtothecombinationrules, polymorphicefficiencybetweenTT(mismatchin3 endof primer,strongdestabilizationstrength)andCA(weak destabilizationstrength)aretypicallyhigherthanAA (mismatchin3 endofprimer,mediumdestabilization strength)andCA.Ourresultsconfirmedthisdeduction. Basedontheseresults,weperformedtheprimerdesign principlewhichcouldformtheoneandonlybestprimer foreverySNPtype.Amongthem,mismatchesinthesec- ondpositionsweremoreappropriateforSNPtype(C/G andG/C),whichwasdifferentfromtheviewpointthat mismatchinthe3 rd positionwasthebestchoiceforAS- PCR.Withtheprimerdesignprinciple,wefurthertested theprimersdesignedbasedonSNPsofrapeseedandses- ame.Highefficientpolymorphismoftheprimersidenti- fiedtheusabilityofthemethodinotherspecies. Conclusion ASNPprimerdesignmethodwasdevelopedwhich improvedthepolymorphismefficiencyofAS-PCRpri- mershighly.Themodifiedprimerdesigncanhelpto identifythebesteffectiveprimerforeachSNPandpo- tentiallyisavaluabletoolforgenemapping,map-based cloningandmarker-assistedselectionincrops. Methods PlantmaterialsandSNPinformation Atleast20uggenomeDNAof B.oleracea lines01-88 and02-12ataconcentrationof 50ng/ul,wassentfor Solexasequencingasacommercialservice.TheDNA wasfragmentedintosmallpiecesusingdivalentcations atelevatedtemperature.ThecleavedshortDNAfrag- mentswerepreparedforSolexasequencinginBGI (China).REPEATMASTERwasusedforscreening repeatedsequenceswithdefaultparameterandlabeling thesequencesfromdifferentmaterials.Forgenomeloca- tionoffragments,SOAPadaptingthedefaultparameter valueswasusedfortheinitialalignmentandscreening Figure3 SNPmarkerdensityincreaseofrapeseedlinkagemap.a ,AnoilcontentQTLwasscannedbetweenO110C05andBrSF000036-9. b ,Amongtwentyprimers,fifteennewmakersweregeneratedforfurtherQTLlocation. Liu etal.PlantMethods 2012, 8 :34 Page7of9 http://www.plantmethods.com/content/8/1/34 toavoidtheeffectsofparalog[31].SNPprimerdesignwasperformedusingscreenedresults.SNPanalysisandverificationbySangersequencingToverifytheputativeSNPs,96SNPsitesderivedfromonly8-readsequenceswererandomlychosenbetweenB.olera-cealines01-88and02-12.Primers(Sangon,China)weredesignedtoamplifyabout500bpfragmentsinwhichcon-tainingthecorrespondingSNPs.ThePCRreactioncon-tained25ngDNA,0.2mMdNTP,0.5UTaq(MBI,USA)with1xbuffer,and5pMofeachprimer.PCRparameterswereasfollows:apre-denaturationof94°Cfor2min,35cyclesofamplification(94°Cfor30S,60°Cfor1minand72°Cfor1min)andafinalextensionreactionwasper-formedat72°Cfor5min.PCRproductsweredetectedon1.0%agarosegelbyelectrophoresisandligatedintoPMD18T-vector(Takara,Japan)forSNPidentification.PrimerdesignandtestingAllele-specificprimerscorrespondingto12kindsofSNPB.oleraceaweredesignedaccordingtodifferentcombi-nationsbetweenmismatchbaseandmismatchsite.Optimizationofmeltingtemperature,primerlengthandamplifiedproductslengthwereachievedusingprimerprogramWebSNAPER(http://pga.mgh.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/snap3/websnaper3.cgi)[23].PrimersequenceswerescreenedagainstB.oleraceagenomerepetitivesequencestominimizemis-priming.PolymorphismassayofSNPprimerswereperformedbyPCRanddetectedbyagarosegelelectrophoresis.Alltheforwardprimersareallele-specificforB.oleracealine02-12andthereverseprimerisnotallele-specific.AmplificationofSNPprimerswasperformedonC1000TMThermalCycler(Bio-Rad,USA)using20ulreactions.Beforecarryingoutthisstudy,wehadchosensomeTaqpolymerases:MBITaqDNAPolymeraseandTakaraTaq(twogeneralTaq),MBIDreamTaqPolymeraseandTakaraExTaq(whicharebetterinamp-lificationefficiencyandsensitivitycomparedtogeneralTaqs)toidentifytheireffectsonamplificationefficiency.Resultshowedbothofgeneralpolymerases(MBITaqDNAPolymeraseandTakaraTaq)hadsameandhighallele-specificamplificationefficiencycomparedtotheothertwoTaqs.Therefore,generalTaqpolymerasewouldbebestchoiceinallele-specificPCRandTaqDNAPolymerasefromMBIwaschoseinthisstudy.ThePCRreactioncontained25ngDNA,0.2mMdNTP,0.5UTaqDNAPolymerasewith1xbuffer,and5pMofeachprimer.PCRparameterswereasfollows:apre-denaturationof94°Cfor2min,35cyclesofamplifica-tion(94°Cfor30s,55°C-65°Cfor1minand72°Cfor30s)andafinalextensionreactionwasperformedat72°Cfor10min.PCRproductswereseparatedon2.5%agarosegelbyelectrophoresis.ApplicationinrapeseedandsesameRapeseedDNAsamplesincludingtwoparents(highoilcontentlinezy036andlowoilcontentline51070)andDHlines,whichhadbeenreportedbyHuaetalalwerepreparedusingtheDNAeasyplantkitminiprep(Qiagen,Valencia,CA).Zy036and51070werere-sequencedandblastedwithB.napusgenomesequence(unpublished).Additionally,twosesamelines28-31andZZM2289(genomesequencehasnotbeenpublished)werealsousedinourresearch.AllSNPswerechosenaccordingtothemethoddescribedinB.oleracea01-88and02-12.TheSNPprimersweredesignedaccordingtoourprimerdesignmethod.AdditionalfilesAdditionalfile1:1686primerpairsdesignedbasedontheSNPsB.oleracealines01-88and02-12.Additionalfile2:385primerpairsdesignedbasedontheSNPsB.oleracealines01-88and02-12whichareA/TSNPtypewithGandTbaseinthe3nucleotide.Additionalfile3:24primerpairsdesignedbasedontheSNPsbetweensesamelines28-31andZZM2289.SNP:SingleNucleotidePolymorphism;AS-PCR:Allele-SpecificPCR;SSR:SimpleSequenceRepeat;RFLP:Restrictionfragmentlengthpolymorphism;AFLP:Amplifiedfragmentlengthpolymorphism;CAPs:TheCleavedAmplifiedPolymorphicSequence;dCAPs:DerivedTheCleavedAmplifiedPolymorphicSequence.CompetinginterestsTheauthorsdeclarethattheyhavenocompetinginterests.JLandSMHcontributedtoprimerdesignandtooktheco-leadroleinwritingthemanuscript.SMHandMYSperformedtheprimeranalysis.SYLofferedsequencedataofB.oleraceaandB.napus.YMLandWWXprovidedtheDNAofB.oleracea01-88and02-12.XRZprovidedthegenomesequenceandDNAofS.indicumL.28-31andZZM2289.HZWparticipatedindiscussionsduringexperimentalwork.WHconceivedtheprojectandapprovedthefinalversionofthemanuscript.Allauthorsreadandapprovedthefinalmanuscript.AcknowledgementThisstudywassupportedbytheNationalKeyBasicResearchProgramofChina(2011CB109300),National863plansprojects(2012AA101107),andKeyProjectsintheNationalScience&TechnologyPillarProgram(2010BAD01B02).AuthordetailsKeyLaboratoryofBiologyandGeneticImprovementofOilCrops,MinistryofAgriculture,OilCropsResearchInstituteoftheChineseAcademyofAgriculturalSciences,Wuhan430062,PeoplesRepublicofChina.InstituteofVegetablesandFlowersoftheChineseAcademyofAgriculturalSciences,Beijing100081,PeoplesRepublicofChina.Received:15June2012Accepted:17August2012Published:24August20121.GutIG:Automationingenotypingofsinglenucleotidepolymorphisms.HumMutat2.KwokPY:Methodsforgenotypingsinglenucleotidepolymorphisms.AnnuRevGenomicsHumGenetetal.PlantMethodsPage8of9http://www.plantmethods.com/content/8/1/34 3.Flint-GarciaSA,ThornsberryJM,BucklerES: Structureoflinkage disequilibriuminplants. 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Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: Convenient online submission Thorough peer review No space constraints or color gure charges Immediate publication on acceptance Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and Google Scholar Research which is freely available for redistribution Submit your manuscript at www.biomedcentral.com/submit Liu etal.PlantMethods 2012, 8 :34 Page9of9 http://www.plantmethods.com/content/8/1/34