ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYMORPHIC MICROSATELLITE LOCI IN THE ENDANGERED PLANT DIPTERONIA SINENSIS (SAPINDACEAE)

Premise of the study: Microsatellite markers were developed in Dipteronia sinensis to investigate the population genetics of this endangered plant. Methods and Results: Using the Fast Isolation by AFLP of Sequences COntaining repeats (FIASCO) protocol, 19 microsatellite loci were developed in D. sinensis and evaluated for their variability in 29 samples from a natural population. For the 15 polymorphic loci, the number of alleles ranged from nine to 33, while the observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.3793 to 0.9655 and from 0.6029 to 0.9609, respectively. Their cross-taxa transferability was also investigated in Acer miaotaiense, A. palmatum, and A. pictum subsp. mono, and 10 to 15 loci proved amplifiable in these species. Conclusions: These microsatellite markers could be employed to investigate the population genetics of D. sinensis and may potentially be applicable to other related species.