DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MICROSATELLITE LOCI IN DIOECIOUS FIGS (FICUS, MORACEAE)

Premise of the study: Microsatellite markers for dioecious fig species, Ficus bernaysii King (section Sycocarpus), Ficus pachyrrhachis K. Schum. & Lauterb. (section Sycocarpus), and Ficus copiosa Steud. (section Sycidium) were developed to estimate gene flow among closely related fig species. Methods and Results: Loci were developed from tri- and tetranucleotide-enriched genomic libraries. The six most repeatable and scorable loci for F. bernaysii and F. pachyrrhachis were characterized in 50 individuals each of five species from section Sycocarpus. Four primer pairs from F. copiosa were screened in 50 individuals each of two species from section Sycidium. Observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.53 to 0.93 in loci developed from F. bernaysii, 0.25 to 0.86 in loci developed from F. pachyrrhachis, and 0.68 to 0.87 in loci developed from F. copiosa. Conclusions: Amplification across the two Ficus sections was observed in seven of the ten total primer pairs.