Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite markers in Metasequoia glyptostroboides (Taxodiaceae)

Metasequoia glyptostroboides is an endangered plant endemic to China. Eleven polymorphic microsatellite loci were successfully isolated from M. glyptostroboides. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 6. The observed (HO) and expected (HE) heterozygosities ranged from 0.1842 to 0.8421 and 0.2389 to 0.6639, respectively. Polymorphism information content ranged from 0.2172 to 0.5901. No significant linkage disequilibrium was observed between the loci. Four loci showed significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. These 11 effective primer pairs are expected to be useful for further studies on population genetics, mating system analysis, and conservation genetics in M. glyptostroboides.