GENOME VARIATION

All 16 linkage groups were examined for the presence of microsatellites and SNPs. A total of 1, 19,710 SNPs were identified from the current study at a depth of 40. The total number of microsateelites identified from the sequenced sesame genome was 118,004; of which 21,704 were present in compound form. Overall, the distribution of di, tri, tetra, penta and heaxa nucleotide repeats was 33%, 16%, 23%, 5%, and 3% respectively. The distribution of SSRs varies from one linkage group to other, however, the density is almost similar in all linkage groups ranging from 1.64 kb to 1.90 kb. The newly identified microsatellite markers and primers are expected to help sesame breeders in developing marker tags for traits of economic importance thereby bringing about greater efficiency in marker assisted selection programs.