Evaluation of genome-wide markers and orthologous markers in Brachypodium distachyon

Abstract

Molecular markers play an important role in identifying the species variation, characterizing the genic diversity, and also linking the identified markers to trait of interest. Genome- and transcriptome-derived molecular markers have been widely used to understand the geographical diversity and have also played a major role in the development of high-density linkage maps. In the present protocol, we present a detailed protocol on bioinformatics approaches towards the whole-genome and transcriptome-assisted simple sequence repeats (SSRs) marker mining in Brachypodium distachyon and identification of orthologus SSRs and their validation in Brachypodium ecotypes. We also present a protocol for the validation of the identified markers.