Development and characterization of SSR markers for Sanguinaria canadensis based on genome skimming

PREMISE: Polymorphic nuclear simple sequence repeat (nSSR) markers were developed for Sanguinaria canadensis (Papaveraceae), a spring ephemeral native to eastern North America. METHODS AND RESULTS: Based on the genome skimming data of S. canadensis, a total of 240 nSSR primer pairs were designed for 80 loci from the assembled nuclear contigs. Of these primer pairs, 19 were selected for initial validation in four populations (80 individuals). All 19 loci produced heterologous amplification. The numbers of alleles per locus ranged from one to 21; the levels of observed and expected heterozygosity per locus ranged from 0.000 to 1.000 and from 0.000 to 0.847, respectively. Transferability of the loci was tested in the related species Eomecon chionantha. CONCLUSIONS: The developed nSSR markers revealed polymorphism in the four studied populations and may contribute to investigations of the genetic diversity of S. canadensis and E. chionantha.