Microsatellites also called as simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are stretch of
repetitive DNA consisting of 1-6 nucleotides. Microsatellites are widely used as
molecular markers and have been identified in many organisms including Bryophytes.
However, despite the availability of the mitochondrial genome of Aneura pinguis, the
information about its mitochondrial SSRs (mtSSRs) is not well understood. In the
present study, a total of 26 mtSSRs were mined in the mitochondrial genome of Aneura
pinguis. Di-nucleotides (15, 57.69%) were the most abundant followed by tetranucleotides
(6, 23.08%), tri-nucleotides (4, 15.38%), and mono-nucleotide (1, 3.85%)
repeats, whereas penta- and hexa-nucleotides were completely absent. The identified
mtSSRs can be used in transferability studies and also play an important role in genetic
diversity analysis of Aneura species.
Keywords: Aneura pinguis, Bryophytes, Microsatellites, Mitochondria.
