Development of simple sequence repeat markers for the soybean rust fungus, Phakopsora pachyrhizi

Twenty-four simple sequence repeat markers were developed for Phakopsora pachyrhizi, a fungal pathogen of soybean (Glycine max) and other legumes. All 24 of the loci were evaluated on 28 isolates of P. pachyrhizi. Twenty-one loci were polymorphic, with allelic diversity ranging from two to eight alleles, and null alleles were observed for eight of the 24 loci. A preliminary screen with the closely related species, P. meibomiae, indicated that these primer pairs are specific to P. pachyrhizi.