Development of thirteen polymorphic microsatellite markers for the Seychelles endangered and endemic jellyfish tree Medusagyne oppositifolia (Medusagynaceae)

Abstract

The jellyfish tree Medusagyne oppositifolia is a flagship species of the Seychelles, being not only extremely rare and critically endangered, but also representing a monospecific endemic family, Medusagynaceae. The species survives in four populations on the Island of Mahe, where the total number of reproductive adults is 89. Natural regeneration is only known for the largest of these populations. Understanding the mechanisms driving the lack of natural regeneration in this species has great conservation relevance. We developed thirteen polymorphic microsatellite loci for this species to enable studies of historic and contemporary gene flow. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 15 (mean of 6.62 per locus) with an average polymorphic information content of 0.54 across loci. Expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.12 to 0.66 with only two of the 13 loci showing deviation from Hardy–Weinberg expectation. The markers will help to provide a better understanding of the significance of historic distributions, gene flow and recent anthropogenic habitat degradation for the in situ and ex-situ conservation of this flagship tree species.