Conclusions
The SSR markers developed in this study will facilitate further studies on genetic diversity and phylogeographic patterns of S. aspera in intercontinental geographical scales.
Results
A total of 4854 simple sequence repeat (SSR) primer pairs were designed from 99,193 contigs acquired from public transcriptome data of S. bona-nox. Forty-six microsatellite loci were selected for further genotyping in 12 S. aspera populations. The number of alleles varied from three to 28, and 93.5% of the developed microsatellite markers could be cross-amplified in least one of three congeneric Smilax species. Conclusions: The SSR markers developed in this study will facilitate further studies on genetic diversity and phylogeographic patterns of S. aspera in intercontinental geographical scales.