Development of EST-SSR markers for Pluchea indica (Asteraceae) and cross-amplification in related species

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers were developed for Pluchea indica, a traditional medicinal species widespread along the tropical coastlines of Asia and northern Australia. METHODS AND RESULTS: Based on transcriptome data for P. indica, a total of 40 primer pairs were initially designed and tested, of which 17 were successfully amplified and showed clear polymorphism. For these SSR loci, one to nine alleles per locus were identified. The levels of observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0 to 0.9 and 0 to 0.831, respectively. Furthermore, 16, 17, and 12 loci were successfully amplified in three congeneric species, P. eupatorioides, P. pteropoda, and P. sagittalis, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The SSR markers described here may be useful for further investigation of the population genetics of P. indica and related species.