Development and characterization of microsatellite markers for Ardisia japonica (Primulaceae), an evergreen clonal dwarf shrub

ABSTRACT Microsatellite markers were first developed for Ardisia japonica (Primulaceae), an evergreen clonal shrub that commonly grows in the understory of various types of temperate forests in East Asia. Of the 69 primer pairs designed based on genomic sequence data, 13 pairs showed clear microsatellite peaks and allelic polymorphisms with tetraploidy in ramets from two populations. Ramets were successfully assigned to multilocus lineages (genets) using microsatellite markers. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 3 to 8, and the observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.468 to 0.881. These will be useful for the assignment of genets and for investigating the genet-level population genetics and ecology of the understory clonal shrub.