Genome-wide analysis of simple sequence repeats in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia)

After the sequencing of the cucumber (Cucumis sativus), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), and melon (Cucumis melo) genomes, bitter gourd became the fourth cucurbit species whose whole genome was sequenced. However, a comprehensive analysis of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in bitter gourd, including a comparison with the three aforementioned cucurbit species, has not yet been published. We identified a total of 188,091 and 167,160 SSR motifs in the genomes of the bitter gourd lines ‘Dali-11’ and ‘OHB3-1,’ respectively. The SSR content, motif lengths, and classified motif types were characterized for the bitter gourd genomes and compared among all the cucurbit genomes.