Development and validation of EST-SSR markers forFokienia hodginsii(Cupressaceae).
OBJECTIVE
Fokienia hodginsii(Cupressaceae) is a Tertiary relict evergreen conifer of the monotypic genusFokienia. Polymorphic microsatellite markers were developed to investigate its genetic diversity and population structure.


RESULTS
RNA transcripts ofF. hodginsiiwere sequenced and de novo assembled into 85,818 unigenes, and 1892 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were detected from the unigenes. A total of 273 expressed sequence tag-SSR primer pairs were designed and tested, and 129 successfully amplified. Eleven displayed clear polymorphisms inF. hodginsii. Amplification of these polymorphic primers across three populations ofF. hodginsiishowed the number of alleles per locus ranged from two to seven, and the expected heterozygosity per locus varied from 0.067 to 0.847. All 11 polymorphic primers amplified inThuja occidentalis, while 10 amplified inT. standishii,Platycladus orientalis, andChamaecyparis obtusa.


CONCLUSIONS
These microsatellite markers will be useful in exploring genetic diversity ofF. hodginsiiand other conifer trees.
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China; Shunde Polytechnic, Foshan 528300, People's Republic of China.
Mingyan
M
Ding
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.
Kaikai
K
Meng
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.
Qiang
Q
Fan
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.
Weizheng
W
Tan
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.
Wenbo
W
Liao
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.
Sufang
S
Chen
Chamaecyparis obtusa; Cupressaceae; Fokienia hodginsii; Platycladus orientalis; Thuja occidentalis; Thuja standishii