Isolation of nuclear microsatellites in the African timber tree Lophira alata (Ochnaceae) and cross-amplification in L. lanceolata.
OBJECTIVE
Microsatellite markers were isolated in the rainforest tree Lophira alata (Ochnaceae), an important timber tree from Central Africa, and cross-amplified on its savannah counterpart, L. lanceolata.


RESULTS
From a microsatellite-enriched library sequenced on a 454 GS FLX platform, 13 primer combinations were identified. Amplification was optimized in two multiplex reactions. The primers amplified di- and trinucelotide repeats, with two to seven alleles per locus. Eleven primers also amplified in L. lanceolata.


CONCLUSIONS
Microsatellite primers developed for the genus Lophira displayed sufficient variation to investigate hybridization between congeneric species in the rainforest-savannah transition.
Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Unit, CP 120/12, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Av. F. D. Roosevelt 50, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Rosalía
R
Piñeiro
Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Unit, CP 120/12, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Av. F. D. Roosevelt 50, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Adrien
A
Staquet
Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Unit, CP 120/12, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Av. F. D. Roosevelt 50, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Olivier J
OJ
Hardy
Lophira; Ochnaceae; nSSR; next-generation sequencing; tropical rainforests; universal primers