Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci from Oxytropis diversifolia (Fabaceae).

Premise of the Study: Microsatellite primers were developed for a perennial legume from northern China, Oxytropis diversifolia (Fabaceae), to investigate population genetic structure of this taxon, as well as potential hybridization events with closely related taxa in this genus.

Methods and Results: One hundred and five primer pairs were designed from Illumina sequence data and screened for suitability. Fifteen of these primer pairs were polymorphic, and these primers amplified tri-, tetra-, and pentanucleotide repeats with 10-56 alleles per locus. Cross-amplification tests in three other Oxytropis species from northern China ( O. leptophylla , O. neimonggolica , and O. squammulosa ) revealed that all of these loci can be amplified successfully and show polymorphism.

Conclusions: These primer pairs can be used to assess the genetic diversity and population structure in future studies of O. diversifolia , as well as studies of potential hybridization events with closely related taxa in this genus.