Development and Characterization of Polymorphic Microsatellite Markers (SSRs) for an Endemic Plant, Pseudolarix amabilis (Nelson) Rehd. (Pinaceae)

• Main Authors: Qi-Fang Geng, Jun Liu, Lin Sun, Hong Liu, Yan Ou-Yang, Ying Cai, Xin-Sheng Tang, Hong-Wei Zhang, Zhong-Sheng Wang, Shu-Qing An
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2015-02-01
• Series: Molecules
• Subjects: microsatellite markers; ESTs; SSRs; Pseudolarix amabilis; Pinaceae
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/20/2/2685
• ISSN: 1420-3049

Pseudolarix (Pinaceae) is a vulnerable (sensu IUCN) monotypic genus restricted to southeastern China. To better understand levels of genetic diversity, population structure and gene flow among populations of P. amabilis, we developed five compound SSR markers and ten novel polymorphic expressed sequence tags (EST) derived microsatellites. The results showed that all 15 loci were polymorphic with the number of alleles per locus ranging from two to seven. The expected and observed heterozygosities varied from 0.169 to 0.752, and 0.000 to 1.000, respectively. The inbreeding coefficient ranged from −0.833 to 1.000. These markers will contribute to research on genetic diversity and population genetic structure of P. amabilis, which in turn will contribute to the species conservation.