Simple Sequence Repeat Markers for the Endangered Species Clianthus puniceus and C. maximus (Fabaceae)

Premise of the study: Microsatellite markers were developed for Clianthus puniceus using a shotgun sequencing library and tested for cross amplification in the closely related C. maximus to inform population management of these two endangered species. Methods and Results: We constructed a shotgun sequencing library using a Roche 454 sequencer and searched the resulting data set for putative microsatellite regions. We optimized 12 of these regions to produce polymorphic markers for Clianthus. We tested these markers on four populations of C. maximus and on four C. puniceus individuals of known provenance. Alleles per locus ranged from two to nine, while observed and expected heterozygosities per locus ranged from 0.000 to 1.000 and 0.178 to 0.600, respectively. Conclusions: These markers will be valuable for ongoing monitoring of the genetic variation in naturally occurring populations of Clianthus and for the selection of individuals for revegetation projects in the species' former range.