Development of novel EST-SSR markers for Phyllanthus emblica (Phyllanthaceae) and cross-amplification in two related species.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: A novel set of EST-SSR markers was developed for Phyllanthus emblica (Phyllanthaceae) to investigate the genetic structure and gene flow, identify novel genes of interest, and develop markers for assisted breeding. METHODS AND RESULTS: Based on the transcriptome data of P. emblica, 83 EST-SSR primer pairs were designed; 52 primer pairs were successfully amplified, with 20 showing polymorphisms in 90 individuals from three populations of P. emblica. The number of alleles per locus varied from 11 to 44. The observed and expected levels of heterozygosity for the 20 loci ranged from 0.240 to 0.868 and 0.754 to 0.933, respectively. Cross-species amplification was successful for all 20 loci in each of the two related species, P. reticulatus and Leptopus chinensis. CONCLUSIONS: These markers will be valuable for studying the population genetics and for mining genes of P. emblica, and may be useful for studies of related species.