Microsatellite primers for the endangered beech tree, Fagus hayatae (Fagaceae).

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Microsatellite primers were developed for the endangered species Fagus hayatae (Fagaceae) to investigate the genetic diversity of the population and to investigate species delimitation within Fagus. METHODS AND RESULTS: Ten polymorphic simple sequence repeat markers were developed for F. hayatae using a magnetic bead enrichment method. The primers amplified trinucleotides, hexanucleotides, and complex repeats with six to 16 alleles per locus. The observed and expected heterozygosities across loci varied, with a range of 0.05-0.71 and 0.63-0.91, respectively. Most of the primers also amplified DNA from F. crenata, F. grandifolia, F. japonica, F. longipetiolata, F. lucida, F. orientalis, and F. sylvatica. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that these polymorphic loci of F. hayatae will be potentially useful for future studies of the population genetic diversity within the species. In addition, the interspecific amplification indicates that these transferable microsatellite markers will also be useful for future phylogeographic and speciation studies among close Fagus species.