The objective of this work was to evaluate the genetic variability of soybean cultivars with microsatellite markers selected and characterized for their informativity to be used in agarose gel system. The DNA of 23 soybean cultivars was amplified with 283 microsatellite markers, using a 3% agarose gel systems. The 53 markers with clearly detectable polymorphism in the agarose gels were used to characterize 53 cultivars. In these 53 cultivars, 124 alleles were detected, with an average of 2.34 alleles per locus. Polymorphism information content values varied between 0.16 and 0.66, with an average of 0.47. Allele frequencies were of 0.02 to 0.91, with an average of 0.43. Genetic distance was of 0.02 to 0.73, with an average value of 0.47. The shortest distance was between cultivars CD201 and CD208, and the largest between CD210 and BRSMT Uirapuru. The markers used permitted the identification of all bean 53 cultivars. The soybean microssatellite loci evaluated in agarose gel presented high informativity. It is possible to detect significant variability in the Brazilian soybean germplasm evaluated, even among elite cultivars, when microssatellite molecular markers, selected for their informativity, are used.
cultivar characterization; polymorphic information content; genetic diversity; allelic frequency; SSR marker
