Characterization of Nuclear Microsatellite Markers for the Narrow Endemic Syringa josikaea Jacq. fil. ex Rchb.

<p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The species of the genus </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Syringa </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">L. are among the most popular ornamental plants worldwide. One particular species, </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Syringa josikaea</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">, a rare endemic of the Carpathian Mountains, is of great conservation interest. Although microsatellite markers may be useful for studying the genetic variability of varieties and populations, no microsatellites have previously been characterized for any species of the </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Syringa </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">genus. Our aim was therefore to test the applicability of microsatellite primers developed for neighboring genera (</span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Olea </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">and </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Ligustrum</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">) and to complement these with markers isolated and characterized for </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">S. josikaea</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">. Twelve primer pairs of </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Olea </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">and </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">Ligustrum </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">were tested by optimizing PCR conditions and checking the variability in 40 samples of two populations of </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">S. josikaea</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">. Two of them proved to be easy to PCR amplify and variable at the same time. To develop new primers we constructed a microsatellite enriched library and sequenced 48 clones. 18 sequences contained microsatellite motifs, and three of the designed primer pairs presented high allele variability. The five primer pairs characterized for </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">S. josikaea </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">proved to be highly informative and sufficient to distinguish between individuals. These microsatellite primers are valuable tools to study genetic variation of native populations, genetic lineages of hybrids and cultivars of </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;">S. josikaea</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro,Garamond Premr Pro; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span></p>