Abstract
Premise of the Study
We developed microsatellite primers for Rhododendron shanii (Ericaceae), a narrowly distributed species found in the Dabie Mountains, China, to study the genetic diversity, population structure, and evolutionary history of the species.
Methods and Results
Two terminal sequencing modes of the Illumina HiSeq platform were used to mine simple sequence repeat markers from large‐scale transcriptional groups. In this study, 24 microsatellite loci were screened. The number of alleles ranged from one to 20, and the levels of observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.000 to 1.000 and 0.000 to 0.918, respectively. Most of these primers were successfully amplified in eight congeneric species (R. annae, R. chihsinianum, R. decorum, R. denudatum, R. fortunei, R. neriiflorum, R. rex, and R. simiarum).
Conclusions
These newly developed microsatellite loci will be useful for studying the genetic diversity and population structure of R. shanii and congeneric species.
Keywords: Ericaceae, genetic diversity, microsatellite, polymorphism, Rhododendron shanii
Rhododendron L. (Ericaceae, Ericales) is a genus of 1024 species of evergreen or deciduous woody plants in the heath family that are mainly distributed in Asia and the highlands of the Appalachian Mountains in North America. Most species have bright flowers that bloom from the end of winter to early summer. One member of the genus, R. shanii W. P. Fang, is endemic to the southern Dabie Mountains (Zhao et al., 2010). According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN, 2018), R. shanii is classified as Vulnerable (VU) (Zhao et al., 2012). Analysis of the genetic diversity of endangered species is a primary focus of conservation biology because it can provide crucial information for the protection of rare and endangered species. In recent decades, microsatellites (also known as simple sequence repeat [SSR] markers) have been widely used as genetic markers for population genetics, phylogeography, and conservation genetics due to their high abundance, high levels of polymorphism, codominance, and transferability (Moriguchi et al., 2015). SSR markers have previously been developed for several species in Rhododendron (e.g., Delmas et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2017). However, as there are thousands of species in Rhododendron, these existing primers are not sufficient for population genetic research, particularly in the rare species R. shanii. In addition, although inter‐simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers have been used to examine genetic diversity in R. shanii, these studies have not clearly revealed the genetic structure and population demographics of this species (Zhao et al., 2013). Therefore, it is important to develop microsatellite loci for R. shanii to facilitate extensive genetic studies of this species.
Here we developed a set of SSR markers to probe the genetic diversity in five wild populations of R. shanii, thereby guiding the conservation of this species. In addition, we tested the versatility and polymorphism of these primer sets in eight congeneric phylogenetically related species of Rhododendron (i.e., R. annae Franch., R. chihsinianum Chun & W. P. Fang, R. decorum Franch., R. denudatum H. Lév., R. fortunei Lindl., R. neriiflorum Franch., R. rex H. Lév., and R. simiarum Hance).
Methods and Results
Total RNA was extracted from dried leaves of multiple R. shanii plants (DZJ population; Appendix 1) using an EasyPure Plant RNA Kit following the manufacturer's instructions (TransGen Biotech Inc., Beijing, China). RNA integrity and quality were evaluated by agarose gel electrophoresis and spectrophotometry. A cDNA library was prepared using a TruSeq Stranded Total RNA Sample Prep Kit (Illumina, San Diego, California, USA), and sequencing was performed using the Illumina HiSeq 3000 platform (Illumina) as described by Berkman and Edwards (2012). For quality control of raw data, Trim Galore version 0.4.4 (Babraham Bioinformatics, http://www.bioinformatics.babraham.ac.uk/projects/trim_galore/) was used to dynamically remove those low‐quality fragments with 10% chance of error in the base call from the 3′ ends of the sequencing data. The quality of the pre‐processed data was analyzed using FastQC version 0.11.5 (Andrews, 2010). A total of 78,354 contigs were obtained by de novo assembly using Trinity version 2.3.2 (Grabherr et al., 2011). All of the assembled contigs were searched for microsatellite loci using BatchPrimer 3 (You et al., 2008), with minimum repeat number of six for dinucleotides and five for tri‐, tetra‐, penta‐, and hexanucleotides. Primer sets were designed with Primer3 with default parameters (Untergasser et al., 2012). A total of 25,564 SSRs were identified from 23,264 contigs and used to design 17,251 microsatellite primer sets. Of these, 24 primer sets that amplified di‐ and tetranucleotide repeats with a minimum of five repeats (range 5–26) were selected at random to test for polymorphism. Raw transcriptome data were deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Short Read Archive (SRA; BioProject no. PRJNA451306, BioSample no. SAMN08967869).
One hundred R. shanii samples were collected from five populations (Baimajian [BMJ], Duozhijian [DZJ], Shibigou [SBG], Tianhejian [THJ], and Tuojian [TJ]; Appendix 1). The leaves collected from one individual were regarded as a single sample. A modified cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) method was used to extract total genomic DNA from 0.20 mg of leaf tissue (Wang et al., 2010). Each PCR amplification reaction contained 1 μL of DNA (100 ng), 0.5 μL of each primer (10 μM) (forward primer fluorescently labeled with FAM, HEX, or TAMRA; Table 1), 7.5 μL of 2× EasyTaq PCR Supermix (TransGen Biotech), and 5.5 μL of sterilized deionized water in a total volume of 15 μL. Amplification was performed on an ABI 2720 Thermal Cycler (Applied Biosystems, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA) under the following conditions: initial denaturation at 95°C for 5 min; followed by 35 cycles of 30 s at 95°C, at an annealing temperature of 53°C for 30 s, and at 72°C for 20 s; and a final extension at 72°C for 10 min. In order to read the SSR data clearly, the PCR products were individually processed on an ABI PRISM 3730 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems) with a GeneScan 500 Size Standard and analyzed using GeneMarker (version 1.3; SoftGenetics, State College, Pennsylvania, USA). MICRO‐CHECKER (van Oosterhout et al., 2004) was used to detect the presence of null alleles and errors in the microsatellite genotyping. The number of effective alleles (A e), observed heterozygosity (H o), and expected heterozygosity (H e) were calculated using GENETIX version 4.0 (Belkhir et al., 2001). All population genetic parameters were calculated for each population and across all populations of R. shanii. Deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) were tested using GENEPOP version 3.4 (Rousset, 2008) using the following parameters: 10,000 dememorization steps, 20 batches, and 5000 iterations per batches. The function of each locus was determined by a BLAST search of the NCBI database.
Table 1.
Characteristics of the 24 microsatellite loci developed in Rhododendron shanii
| Locus | Primer sequences (5′–3′) | Repeat motif | Allele size range (bp) | T a (°C) | Function [Organism] | E‐value | GenBank accession no. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rho01 | F: TAMRA‐TCCGAGTTCTGATATTGAATGTGT | (TTCT)5 | 265–284 | 55 | Unknown | Unknown | MH211009 |
| R: AAGACCAAAGTTGCCACCGA | |||||||
| Rho02 | F: TAMRA‐CCAATGCTCGATCTTCTGC | (AAAG)5 | 264–288 | 55 | Phaseolus vulgaris hypothetical protein [Phaseolus vulgaris] | 1e‐64 | MH211010 |
| R: TGCCCAGTTCGTTGTCTAGG | |||||||
| Rho03* | F: FAM‐GAGTCGGATCGTAGGCTTGG | (CTTC)5 | 178–215 | 54 | Proline rich coiled‐coil 2C [Seriola lalandi dorsalis] | 5e‐07 | MH211011 |
| R: TTGCAGGGTCAGGGAGAAAG | |||||||
| Rho04* | F: TAMRA‐GGTGGCGAAGTTGGTAATGC | (GTCT)5 | 248–275 | 55 | Uncharacterized LOC104098765 [Nicotiana tomentosiformis] | 2e‐72 | MH211012 |
| R: ACTGCGCCCAAGGTTGTTAT | |||||||
| Rho05* | F: FAM‐TCTCTCTCCCTCCCTTCAGC | (TGTC)5 | 145–164 | 55 | B. verrucosa Betv III [Betula pendula] | 2e‐49 | MH211013 |
| R: TCACTTGAGCCAATCCCAGG | |||||||
| Rho07 | F: HEX‐ACAACACCTACCTTGGAGCG | (TGAT)5 | 180–199 | 54 | Hypothetical protein [Populus trichocarpa] | 1e‐65 | MH211014 |
| R: TCTCCGTTGCCTTTACCGAC | |||||||
| Rho09* | F: FAM‐TATATGGCTGGGGTCCGTGA | (TTTA)5 | 130–158 | 55 | Unknown | Unknown | MH211015 |
| R: ATATGGGCGGATTGGGTTGG | |||||||
| Rho11* | F: TAMRA‐TGTGTTTCTTCGGCCATGGA | (AGAA)6 | 230–254 | 55 | Unknown | Unknown | MH211016 |
| R: TCTGTTTACTTGGAATATTGGGTTGT | |||||||
| Rho12 | F: HEX‐CTAGACGAGATCCCCACCCA | (AGAC)6 | 226–268 | 55 | 60S ribosomal protein L6‐3‐like [Raphanus sativus] | 6e‐28 | MH211017 |
| R: GTTGCTGAGCGGGTTTCTTG | |||||||
| Rho14 | F: FAM‐TCACCTCCCTCTCACTCCTC | (TC)26 | 102–155 | 55 | Cultivar Brigitta calmodulin‐1 [Vaccinium corymbosum] | 5e‐48 | MH211018 |
| R: GATCCGCCATTTCGATTGCC | |||||||
| Rho15 | F: FAM‐AATCCCACCTCTCAAACCCT | (TC)25 | 143–176 | 55 | Unknown | Unknown | MH211019 |
| R: AGGCTACAAAGAAACGGACGA | |||||||
| Rho16 | F: HEX‐CTCCCCATTCACACAACCCA | (TC)24 | 150–210 | 55 | Auxin early response protein AUX/IAA4 [Camellia sinensis] | 5e‐144 | MH211020 |
| R: ACCCTCATACAACACGGAGC | |||||||
| Rho17 | F: TAMRA‐TCCCTTTCACTAAACCCTACAGA | (CT)23 | 240–274 | 56 | DEAD‐box ATP‐dependent RNA helicase 53 [Vitis vinifera] | 7e‐122 | MH211021 |
| R: GCCGGAGATTGCATTTGTGG | |||||||
| Rho18 | F: HEX‐CGTCAGGTGCAAAGGGTTTC | (GA)23 | 151–191 | 54 | Uncharacterized LOC17898248 [Capsella rubella] | 8e‐67 | MH211022 |
| R: TCTCTTTCTCTTTCCACAACACC | |||||||
| Rho20 | F: FAM‐GAGGGAGATCTCTGTCGGGT | (GA)21 | 96–125 | 55 |
Mannosyl‐oligosaccharide 1,2‐alpha‐mannosidase [Vitis vinifera] |
0.0 | MH211023 |
| R: CTTTGCTTCGGAGTCCTCGT | |||||||
| Rho21 | F: HEX‐GATTGAAGTTCGGCCCAACG | (CT)21 | 160–210 | 54 | Uncharacterized LOC100854951 [Vitis vinifera] | 1e‐68 | MH211024 |
| R: ACTCTCTCCATCCAAACGACC | |||||||
| Rho22 | F: HEX‐GAGAAGCGGCAGTTGAGAGT | (AG)21 | 201–229 | 56 | Unknown | Unknown | MH211025 |
| R: TCATCTTCACACACGGCACC | |||||||
| Rho23 | F: FAM‐TCACCTCCCTCTCACTCCTC | (TC)21 | 98–146 | 55 | Cultivar Brigitta calmodulin‐1 [Vaccinium corymbosum] | 5e‐48 | MH211026 |
| R: GATCCGCCATTTCGATTGCC | |||||||
| Rho27 | F: HEX‐AACACGAACGGCAAAGAACG | (GA)20 | 172–210 | 55 | Sphingoid long‐chain bases kinase 2 [Cynara cardunculus] | 0.0 | MH211027 |
| R: AGGGACCACAATGAACCTTACA | |||||||
| Rho29 | F: FAM‐TCACCCCACCCATCTCTCAA | (AG)17 | 82–110 | 55 | Transcript variant X1 [Quercus suber] | 0.0 | MH211028 |
| R: GAAGCACACCCAGTACCCAT | |||||||
| Rho30 | F: FAM‐ TGGCTCTCCTCTTCATTTATTAGAA | (CT)16 | 85–115 | 56 | Unknown [Diplarche multiflora] | 7e‐17 | MH211029 |
| R: TCATCTTCACACACGGCACC | |||||||
| Rho31 | F: FAM‐CAGGAGATGAGAGACAGCCG | (TC)16 | 106–140 | 55 | Unknown | Unknown | MH211030 |
| R: AATCACTGCTCCCAACCTCC | |||||||
| Rho32 | F: HEX‐ACAACAACTGGACCCTGCTT | (CT)16 | 126–165 | 55 | Unknown | Unknown | MH211031 |
| R: AGATGATTGATGGGATGAAGATGA | |||||||
| Rho33 | F: HEX‐TCTCTCCTCTCCATCGATCGT | (GA)23 | 185–235 | 54 | Uncharacterized LOC108988035 [Juglans regia] | 3e‐39 | MH211032 |
| R: CCGTTCTGGTGTTGCTGTTG |
T a = annealing temperature.
Indicates significant deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium after Bonferroni correction for the total population (P < 0.01).
In this study, we screened 24 microsatellite loci, revealing a total of 291 alleles. Considering all populations, five loci were found to deviate from HWE (P < 0.01) in R. shanii (Table 1). The nuclear genetic diversity varied between populations, with A e ranging from 5.83 (SBG) to 7.54 (THJ), H o from 0.650 (SBG) to 0.718 (DZJ), and H e from 0.591 (SBG) to 0.685 (THJ). Overall, SBG showed the lowest genetic diversity of the five populations (Table 2). The deviation from HWE was likely related to sample size, substructuring of the samples, or intra‐population inbreeding. Across all five populations of R. shanii using the 24 loci, the number of alleles ranged from one to 20, H o ranged from 0.000 to 1.000, and H e ranged from 0.000 to 0.918 (Table 2). Putative functions were identified for 17 microsatellite loci through BLAST searches (Table 1). We next tested these 24 primer sets for cross‐amplification in R. annae, R. chihsinianum, R. decorum, R. denudatum, R. fortunei, R. neriiflorum, R. rex, and R. simiarum (Appendix 1). Most of the primers also amplified products in these eight species and no null alleles were found (Table 3).
Table 2.
Genetic diversity of the 24 newly developed microsatellites in five populations of Rhododendron shanii.a
| Locus | BMJ (n = 20) | DZJ (n = 20) | SBG (n = 20) | THJ (n = 20) | TJ (n = 20) | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | H o | H e | A | H o | H e | A | H o | H e | A | H o | H e | A | H o | H e | A | H o | H e | |
| Rho1 | 4 | 0.970* | 0.759 | 4 | 1.000* | 0.616 | 4 | 0.885* | 0.607 | 4 | 0.500* | 0.523 | 4 | 0.722* | 0.627 | 4 | 0.800 | 0.698 |
| Rho2 | 5 | 0.515* | 0.520 | 6 | 0.667* | 0.731 | 5 | 0.192* | 0.251 | 2 | 0.467 | 0.398 | 3 | 0.444 | 0.387 | 6 | 0.450 | 0.481 |
| Rho3 | 7 | 0.788 | 0.812 | 8 | 0.697 | 0.808 | 6 | 0.500 | 0.596 | 6 | 0.500 | 0.785 | 6 | 0.583 | 0.746 | 8 | 0.630 | 0.784 |
| Rho4 | 6 | 0.364 | 0.632 | 3 | 0.455 | 0.363 | 6 | 0.346 | 0.569 | 5 | 0.367 | 0.490 | 5 | 0.629 | 0.684 | 8 | 0.400 | 0.596 |
| Rho5 | 3 | 0.152* | 0.455 | 5 | 0.424* | 0.642 | 2 | 0.000* | 0.145 | 1 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 2 | 0.000* | 0.407 | 5 | 0.061 | 0.407 |
| Rho7 | 8 | 0.606* | 0.753 | 5 | 0.667* | 0.683 | 4 | 0.154 | 0.389 | 4 | 0.321 | 0.611 | 7 | 0.361 | 0.585 | 10 | 0.343 | 0.637 |
| Rho9 | 2 | 0.333 | 0.282 | 1 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 1 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 3 | 0.393 | 0.495 | 2 | 0.083 | 0.081 | 3 | 0.163 | 0.206 |
| Rho11 | 5 | 0.182 | 0.394 | 2 | 0.424 | 0.339 | 3 | 0.577 | 0.446 | 6 | 0.393* | 0.720 | 4 | 0.233 | 0.445 | 6 | 0.344 | 0.461 |
| Rho12 | 4 | 0.212* | 0.276 | 4 | 0.697* | 0.592 | 2 | 0.038 | 0.038 | 2 | 0.333 | 0.325 | 2 | 0.278 | 0.243 | 4 | 0.300 | 0.298 |
| Rho14 | 10 | 0.939 | 0.870 | 12 | 1.000 | 0.897 | 12 | 0.923 | 0.900 | 13 | 0.929 | 0.890 | 12 | 0.917 | 0.868 | 16 | 0.939 | 0.909 |
| Rho15 | 13 | 0.969 | 0.902 | 12 | 1.000 | 0.863 | 10 | 0.846 | 0.827 | 12 | 0.828 | 0.910 | 12 | 0.943 | 0.904 | 15 | 0.928 | 0.901 |
| Rho16 | 12 | 0.788 | 0.858 | 10 | 0.656 | 0.874 | 9 | 0.731 | 0.749 | 13 | 0.967 | 0.845 | 20 | 0.972 | 0.910 | 20 | 0.778 | 0.879 |
| Rho17 | 12 | 0.848 | 0.834 | 9 | 1.000 | 0.837 | 6 | 0.654 | 0.659 | 13 | 0.821 | 0.845 | 13 | 0.941 | 0.853 | 16 | 0.842 | 0.860 |
| Rho18 | 13 | 0.844 | 0.855 | 9 | 0.750 | 0.864 | 10 | 0.808 | 0.869 | 15 | 0.963 | 0.892 | 14 | 0.742 | 0.875 | 19 | 0.832 | 0.885 |
| Rho20 | 8 | 0.879 | 0.798 | 7 | 0.970 | 0.657 | 7 | 1.000* | 0.716 | 9 | 0.931 | 0.835 | 9 | 0.972 | 0.784 | 13 | 0.940 | 0.778 |
| Rho21 | 12 | 0.879 | 0.809 | 8 | 1.000* | 0.836 | 8 | 0.731 | 0.741 | 11 | 0.929 | 0.839 | 10 | 0.806 | 0.776 | 14 | 0.867 | 0.844 |
| Rho22 | 7 | 0.938 | 0.697 | 7 | 0.938 | 0.654 | 6 | 0.962 | 0.644 | 6 | 0.967 | 0.703 | 6 | 0.970 | 0.684 | 9 | 0.948 | 0.680 |
| Rho23 | 10 | 0.879 | 0.877 | 16 | 0.970 | 0.918 | 12 | 0.885 | 0.893 | 14 | 0.900* | 0.901 | 11 | 0.833 | 0.848 | 16 | 0.897 | 0.902 |
| Rho27 | 8 | 0.871 | 0.775 | 5 | 0.688 | 0.761 | 10 | 0.731 | 0.807 | 11 | 0.900 | 0.815 | 13 | 0.917 | 0.846 | 19 | 0.776 | 0.820 |
| Rho29 | 11 | 1.000 | 0.869 | 5 | 0.909 | 0.702 | 7 | 0.885 | 0.729 | 9 | 0.867 | 0.841 | 9 | 0.861 | 0.831 | 11 | 0.920 | 0.814 |
| Rho30 | 6 | 0.909 | 0.638 | 8 | 0.758 | 0.590 | 4 | 0.962 | 0.575 | 6 | 0.828 | 0.606 | 5 | 0.833 | 0.590 | 10 | 0.870 | 0.605 |
| Rho31 | 6 | 1.000 | 0.622 | 6 | 0.939 | 0.683 | 4 | 1.000* | 0.667 | 6 | 0.967 | 0.754 | 6 | 0.917 | 0.697 | 10 | 0.940 | 0.689 |
| Rho32 | 13 | 1.000 | 0.888 | 7 | 0.727* | 0.790 | 9 | 0.800 | 0.805 | 14 | 0.828 | 0.851 | 13 | 0.972 | 0.864 | 16 | 0.848 | 0.889 |
| Rho33 | 12 | 0.970 | 0.886 | 6 | 0.879 | 0.776 | 6 | 0.962 | 0.790 | 12 | 0.931 | 0.897 | 12 | 0.912 | 0.851 | 12 | 0.918 | 0.863 |
| Total loci | 7.21±0.61 | 0.707±0.058 | 0.674±0.040 | 6.00±0.51 | 0.718±0.057 | 0.671±0.042 | 5.83±0.55 | 0.650±0.070 | 0.591±0.051 | 7.54±0.80 | 0.712±0.057 | 0.685±0.044 | 7.21±0.79 | 0.700±0.066 | 0.674±0.044 | 6.76±0.30 | 0.697±0.027 | 0.659±0.020 |
A = number of alleles; H e = expected heterozygosity; H o = observed heterozygosity; n = number of individuals.
Voucher and locality information are provided in Appendix 1.
Indicates significant deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium after Bonferroni correction for each population (P < 0.01).
Table 3.
Cross‐amplification results for the 24 microsatellite loci developed for Rhododendron shanii in eight species of Rhododendron, as indicated by allele size ranges.a , b
| Locus | R. decorum | R. chihsinianum | R. simiarum | R. denudatum | R. neriiflorum | R. fortunei | R. annae | R. rex |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rho1 | 268–270 | 268–270 | 268–280 | 268–280 | 266–268 | 264–268 | 268 | 270 |
| Rho2 | 266–274 | 266–270 | 270–276 | 274–276 | 276–286 | 266–270 | 266–276 | 270–274 |
| Rho3 | 185–189 | 189–203 | 183–197 | 189–203 | 211–213 | 197–199 | 187–199 | 197–199 |
| Rho4 | 261–263 | 267–273 | 257–259 | 257–259 | 257–259 | 257–261 | 257–259 | 253–257 |
| Rho5 | 152–156 | 152–156 | 156 | 156–162 | 152–162 | 152–156 | 152 | 148–152 |
| Rho7 | 181–189 | 181–189 | 189–197 | 181–189 | 189–197 | 189–197 | 189–197 | 189–193 |
| Rho9 | — | 131 | — | — | — | 131 | — | — |
| Rho11 | 235 | 231–235 | 231–235 | 243–247 | 243–247 | 243–247 | 231–235 | 235–239 |
| Rho12 | 240–264 | 254 | 236 | 230–234 | 230 | 250 | 230–252 | 230 |
| Rho14 | 132–138 | 126–128 | 116–124 | 128–130 | 112–118 | 116–126 | 116–132 | 120–130 |
| Rho15 | 150–154 | 156–158 | 146–158 | 144–158 | 160–162 | 154 | 146–154 | 150–164 |
| Rho16 | 161–199 | 177–185 | 177–203 | 175–185 | 151–183 | 159–163 | 185–195 | 175–179 |
| Rho17 | 251–259 | 251–163 | 251–255 | 247–259 | 249–261 | 245–257 | 247–257 | 249–257 |
| Rho18 | 162 | 176–178 | 152 | 158 | 160 | 178 | 160–188 | 152–158 |
| Rho20 | 104–108 | 100–102 | 98–100 | 100–102 | 98–102 | 100–110 | 98–100 | 100–102 |
| Rho21 | 180 | 180 | 194 | 162–178 | 178–192 | 180 | 180 | 180 |
| Rho22 | 202–204 | 220–222 | 206 | 208–218 | 208–218 | 206–208 | — | 208–210 |
| Rho23 | 132–138 | 126–128 | 116–124 | 126–130 | 106–112 | 120–126 | 98–116 | 98–130 |
| Rho27 | 177–179 | 179–193 | 191–195 | 173–177 | 183–193 | 177–201 | 177–181 | 181–207 |
| Rho29 | 97–107 | 93–101 | 93–101 | 97–101 | 85–91 | 105–107 | 91–97 | 89–97 |
| Rho30 | 87–97 | 99–101 | 87–89 | 85–89 | — | 85–97 | 87–97 | 87–97 |
| Rho31 | 114–136 | 124–136 | 118–136 | 112 | 108–118 | 136 | 136 | — |
| Rho32 | 146 | 146 | 150–154 | 146–158 | 146 | 128–146 | 146 | 152–156 |
| Rho33 | 209–231 | 201–211 | 201–233 | 187–211 | 213–215 | 205–211 | 193–209 | 195 |
— = unsuccessful amplification.
N = 6 for all species.
Voucher and locality information are provided in Appendix 1.
Conclusions
We identified 25,564 SSRs from 23,264 contigs and designed 17,251 microsatellite primers. The 24 novel microsatellite markers identified in this study are valuable tools that will be useful for investigating population structure, gene flow levels, and mating systems, as well as for conservation genetic studies of R. shanii. These microsatellite primers could also be used to genotype congeneric species (R. annae, R. chihsinianum, R. decorum, R. denudatum, R. fortunei, R. neriiflorum, R. rex, and R. simiarum).
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the College of Resources and Environment of Anqing Normal University for the Rhododendron samples. This work was supported by the Graduate Student Academic Innovation Research of Anhui University (yqh100113) and Research start‐up funds of Anhui Normal University (751865).
Appendix 1. Voucher information for the Rhododendron species used in this study.
| Species | Population | Collection locality | Geographic coordinates | n | Voucher IDa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R. shanii | BMJ | Baimajian, Anhui, China | 31°7′N, 116°11′E | 20 | AHD‐dz‐bmj‐201703 |
| DZJ | Duozhijian, Anhui, China | 30°59′N, 116° 7′E | 20 | AHD‐dz‐dzj‐201703b | |
| SBG | Shibigou, Anhui, China | 30°58′N, 116° 5′E | 20 | AHD‐dz‐sbg‐201703 | |
| THJ | Tianhejian, Anhui, China | 31°4′N, 116°11′E | 20 | AHD‐dz‐thj‐201703 | |
| TJ | Tuojian, Anhui, China | 30°55′N, 116° 5′E | 20 | AHD‐dz‐tj‐201703 | |
| R. annae Franch. | Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi, China | 29°51′N, 115°59′E | 6 | AHD‐ty‐201709 | |
| R. chihsinianum Chun & W. P. Fang | Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi, China | 29°51′N, 115°59′E | 6 | AHD‐ht‐201709 | |
| R. decorum Franch. | Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi, China | 29°51′N, 115°59′E | 6 | AHD‐dbh‐201709 | |
| R. denudatum H. Lév. | Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi, China | 29°51′N, 115°59′E | 6 | AHD‐zy‐201709 | |
| R. fortunei Lindl. | Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi, China | 29°51′N, 115°59′E | 6 | AHD‐yj‐201709 | |
| R. neriiflorum Franch. | Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi, China | 29°51′N, 115°59′E | 6 | AHD‐hh‐201709 | |
| R. rex H. Lév. | Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi, China | 29°51′N, 115°59′E | 6 | AHD‐dw‐201709 | |
| R. simiarum Hance | Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi, China | 29°51′N, 115°59′E | 6 | AHD‐htdj‐201709 |
n = number of individuals.
All voucher specimens were collected by Kai Zhao and deposited at Anhui University (AHU), Heifei, Anhui, China.
Voucher used for RNA extraction.
Pan, T. , Pei Y.‐L., Zhao K., Liu X.‐Y., Wang C.‐C., and Zhang B.‐W.. 2019. Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci for Rhododendron shanii (Ericaceae). Applications in Plant Sciences 7(2): e1222.
Data Accessibility
Raw transcriptome data were deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Short Read Archive (BioProject no. PRJNA451306, BioSample no. SAMN08967869). Sequence information for the developed primers has been deposited to NCBI; GenBank accession numbers are provided in Table 1.
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Associated Data
This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.
Data Availability Statement
Raw transcriptome data were deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Short Read Archive (BioProject no. PRJNA451306, BioSample no. SAMN08967869). Sequence information for the developed primers has been deposited to NCBI; GenBank accession numbers are provided in Table 1.
