Development and characterization of EST‐SSR markers for Saxifraga fortunei var. incisolobata (Saxifragaceae)

PREMISE: Saxifraga fortunei (Saxifragaceae) includes several infraspecific taxa that are ecologically and morphologically distinct. To investigate the evolutionary history of phenotypic polymorphisms in this species, we developed expressed sequence tag–simple sequence repeat (EST‐SSR) markers for S. fortunei. METHODS AND RESULTS: We developed 26 polymorphic markers based on transcriptome data obtained from Illumina HiSeq 2000. Within three populations of S. fortunei var. incisolobata, the number of alleles ranged from four to 25, and the levels of observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.200 to 0.847 and from 0.209 to 0.930, respectively. Furthermore, all 26 loci showed transferability for S. fortunei var. obtusocuneata and S. fortunei var. suwoensis, and 18 loci were also successfully amplified in S. acerifolia. CONCLUSIONS: These newly developed EST‐SSR markers will prove useful to infer the evolutionary history of S. fortunei var. incisolobata and its relatives in population genetic studies.