Abstract
Arabidopsis lyrata has become a useful system for the study of
comparative genomics, hybridization, polyploidyization, and evolutionary
transitions from outcrossing to selfing. Previous studies of its mating
system have used microsatellite loci but low allelic diversity,
particularly in self-compatible populations characterized by low levels
of outcrossing, reduce these markers for more detailed studies. Here, we
aimed to develop population-level SNP markers for A. lyrata ssp.
lyrata. We performed de novo SNP discovery and identified 6,808
putative SNPs from genome-wide sequences of 22 individuals originating
from a highly selfing population. Further filtering and marker
validation enabled the development of 17 SNP marker loci that can be
visualized using standard PCR-RFLP protocols. These markers had average
minor-allele frequencies of 0.40 in the target population and four of
seven markers were variable in a small sample from nine other A.
lyrata populations. These PCR-RFLP markers have the potential to be
useful for the analysis of mating patterns in within and beyond the
inbred self-compatible populations of A. lyrata studied here, and enable
the continued development of A. lyrata as a model for studying
evolutionary transitions from outcrossing to selfing.