Isolation and characterization of twenty-two polymorphic microsatellite markers from Gardenia jasminoides (Rubiaceae)

Abstract

Gardenia jasminoides Ellis (Zhi Zi in Chinese) (Rubiaceae), an ancient medical herb, is noted for its medicinal properties in Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese pharmacopoeias. It has been demonstrated that Fructus Gardeniae (FG), namely the dried ripe fruits of G. jasminoides, has extensive pharmacological activities, such as protective activity against oxidative damage, cytotoxic effect, antiinflammatory activity and fibrolytic activity (Koo et al. 2004). FG has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. It is proved to be effective in the treatment of jaundice, inflammation, headache, oedema, fever, hepatic disorders and hypertension (China Pharmacopeia 2010). In addition, it is reported that the extract and constituents are useful for the treatment of gastritis (Lee et al. 2009). Gardenia yellow from the fruit is a natural pigment which can be transformed to blue pigment by modification (Lee et al. 2003). Both the pigments have wide applications as food colourant in products such as noodles and confectioneries in Asian countries (Ichi et al. 1995). Moreover, G. jasminoides also has potential horticultural value for its large, attractive and fragrant flowers (Watanabe et al. 1993). It is cultivated in China for over 2000 years, since the Han Dynasty (Han et al. 2007a). It is well known that the genotypic and phenotypic variability, heritability and some special characters, such as variations of the active component contents or pigments, and the fragrance, shape, colour and size of flower are important for further genetic improvement of the species. Collection, evaluation and conservation of germplasm are prerequisites for cultivating high-yield and better quality of