MICROSATELLITES FOR THE MANGROVE TREE AVICENNIA GERMINANS (ACANTHACEAE): TOOLS FOR HYBRIDIZATION AND MATING SYSTEM STUDIES

Premise of the study: We developed a new set of microsatellite markers for the black mangrove Avicennia germinans, to provide new informative tools for further studies of the mating system, interspecific hybridization, and population genetics. Methods and Results: We used the microsatellite-enriched library approach to isolate and characterize 25 new primer pairs. Sixteen of them are polymorphic, showing a variable degree of variation in A. germinans, while nine were monomorphic in the samples examined. Eight exhibited private alleles in A. schaueriana. Conclusions: These results indicate that these new microsatellite markers will be useful molecular tools for further studies of A. germinans and A. schaueriana population genetics, mating systems, and hybridization.