Development and evaluation of microsatellite markers for a native prairie perennial, Echinacea angustifolia (Asteraceae)(1)

• Premise of the study: Microsatellite loci for the native prairie perennial Echinacea angustifolia were developed and evaluated for future use in population structure and paternity studies. • Methods and Results: A total of 50 trinucleotide microsatellite regions were identified though an enrichment protocol that prescreens for microsatellite repeats before ligating into a vector. Of these, 11 loci were polymorphic and in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in three populations with varying numbers of plants. The loci had between three and 14 alleles and collectively provided high paternity exclusion probabilities. • Conclusions: These sets of microsatellite primers will provide researchers and land managers with valuable information on the population genetic structure and gene flow between fragmented prairie populations.