Development of microsatellite markers using Illumina MiSeq sequencing to characterizeEphedra gerardiana(Ephedraceae).
OBJECTIVE
Ephedragerardiana(Ephedraceae), occurring in the Himalayan ranges, is an important plant species used in Tibetan medicine. Due to the lack of molecular markers to characterize genetic diversity, knowledge for conservation and uses ofE. gerardianaresources is limited; we therefore developed microsatellite markers for use in this species.


RESULTS
Using Illumina MiSeq sequencing technology, we developed 29 polymorphic microsatellite loci suitable forE. gerardiana, of which 15 loci also showed polymorphisms in two relatedEphedraspecies,E. saxatilisandE. monosperma. The average number of effective alleles per locus ranged from two to six. The observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.23 to 0.83 and 0.44 to 0.86, respectively, inE. gerardianapopulations.


CONCLUSIONS
The developed 29 microsatellite markers are effective for the study of genetic structure and genetic diversity ofE. gerardiana, and 15 of these markers are suitable for relatedEphedraspecies.
School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, People's Republic of China; Science Faculty, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.
Ji
J
De
Science Faculty, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.
Weidong
W
Zhu
Science Faculty, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.
Tianmeng
T
Liu
School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, People's Republic of China.
Zhe
Z
Wang
School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, People's Republic of China; Science Faculty, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.
Yang
Y
Zhong
Ephedra gerardiana; Ephedraceae; conservation; genetic diversity; next-generation sequencing; simple sequence repeat markers