Characterization of 24 polymorphic microsatellite markers for Silene nutans, a gynodioecious–gynomonoecious species, and cross-species amplification in other Silene species

Abstract

Silene nutans (Caryophyllaceae) is a rare, vulnerable plant species that exhibits gynodioecy, containing both female and hermaphroditic individuals in natural populations. We developed and characterized 24 novel polymorphic microsatellite markers from next-generation sequencing to gain insights into the mating system and population-genetic structure of this species. In 36 individuals from three populations, the number of alleles and expected heterozygosity ranged from 5 to 30 and from 0.156 to 0.903 respectively. Departures from panmixia were found for 58.33 % of the loci with a mean multilocus Fis estimate of 0.232, which is expected in a self-compatible species exhibiting a mixed-mating system. Cross-species amplification was examined among eight additional Silene species and was successful for 7–19 loci, depending on the taxa. Overall, these newly developed microsatellite markers exhibited a high level of polymorphism, which will facilitate paternity analyses and fine- and large-scale population-genetic studies.