Genetic diversity of the endangered Chinese endemic herb Dayaoshania cotinifolia (Gesneriaceae) revealed by simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers

Dayaoshania cotinifolia W.T. Wang is a critically endangered perennial herb endemic to southern China. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were employed to assess genetic diversity in two populations of D. cotinifolia. Eight primer pairs generated a total of 36 alleles, with a mean of 4.5 alleles per locus. The expected heterozygosity (H-e = 0.416) and observed heterozygosity (H-o = 0.508) indicated a moderate level of genetic diversity, though the genetic differentiation between the populations was low (F-st = 0.014), a result that was supported by a higher gene flow (N-m = 18.000). No severe bottleneck effect was detected in the two populations. Thus, the endangered status of this species is most likely due to anthropologic effects rather than a lack of genetic diversity. In situ conservation strategies should be promoted, and the sizes of the populations should be increased through artificial breeding. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.