Development, characterization and use of microsatellite markers for genetic analysis of Cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale)

Background The cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale) is found throughout the Brazilian territory, although it is better adapted to the northeastern coast climate. This fruit crop is essential to the agroindustry of the States of Ceara, Piaui and Rio Grande do Norte, where around 95% of the production is harvested and where the whole processing of the chestnut is done. It currently represents 157 million dollars in exports of nuts. Despite its socio-economic importance it still lags behind in the adoption of breeding technologies. There is very little information about the genetics of this species and no molecular tools yet developed. In this work we developed and characterized a set of microsatellite markers for Anacardium occidentale from the construction of genomic libraries enriched for repetitive sequences.