New microsatellite markers for (Velloziaceae), an endemic species on Malagasy inselbergs.

Premise: Microsatellite markers were developed for (Velloziaceae), a species endemic to the Malagasy inselbergs, to explore the impact of its island-like distribution on genetic diversity and gene flow.

Methods And Results: A total of 7110 perfect microsatellite loci were recovered by shotgun sequencing on an Illumina MiSeq platform. Primer pairs were designed for 40 arbitrarily selected loci.

Development of 15 nuclear microsatellite markers in (Pitcairnioideae; Bromeliaceae) using 454 pyrosequencing.

Premise Of The Study: Microsatellite markers were developed in (Bromeliaceae) to investigate species and subspecies boundaries within the genus and the genetic diversity of natural populations.

Methods And Results: We used 454 pyrosequencing to isolate 835 microsatellite loci in . Of 64 loci selected for primer design, 15 were polymorphic among 23 individuals of and 76 individuals of the heterologous subspecies subsp.

Population genetic structure of the rock outcrop species (Bromeliaceae): The role of pollination vs. seed dispersal and evolutionary implications.

Premise Of The Study: Inselbergs are terrestrial, island-like rock outcrop environments that present a highly adapted flora. The epilithic bromeliad is a dominant species on inselbergs in the Caatinga of northeastern Brazil. We conducted a population genetic analysis to test whether the substantial phenotypic diversity of could be explained by limited gene flow among populations and to assess the relative impact of pollen vs.

No evidence for effects of infection with the amphibian chytrid fungus on populations of yellow-bellied toads.

The parasitic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) can cause the lethal disease chytridiomycosis in amphibians and therefore may play a role in population declines. The yellow-bellied toad Bombina variegata suffered strong declines throughout western and northwestern parts of its range and is therefore listed as highly endangered for Germany and the federal state of Hesse. Whether chytridiomycosis may play a role in the observed local declines of this strictly protected anuran species has never been tested.

Ecological range shift in the polyploid members of the South American genus Fosterella (Bromeliaceae).

Background And Aims: The distribution of polyploidy along a relatively steep Andean elevation and climatic gradient is studied using the genus Fosterella L.B. Sm.

Microsatellites from Fosterella christophii (Bromeliaceae) by de novo transcriptome sequencing on the Pacific Biosciences RS platform.

Premise Of The Study: Microsatellite markers were developed in Fosterella christophii (Bromeliaceae) to investigate the genetic diversity and population structure within the F. micrantha group, comprising F. christophii, F.

Development of 18 polymorphic microsatellite markers for Vinca minor (Apocynaceae) via 454 pyrosequencing.

Premise Of The Study: Polymorphic microsatellite markers were developed in Vinca minor (Apocynaceae) to evaluate the level of clonality, population structure, and genetic diversity of the species within its native and introduced range.

Methods And Results: A total of 1371 microsatellites were found in 43,565 reads from 454 pyrosequencing of genomic V. minor DNA.

DNA fingerprinting in botany: past, present, future.

Almost three decades ago Alec Jeffreys published his seminal Nature papers on the use of minisatellite probes for DNA fingerprinting of humans (Jeffreys and colleagues Nature 1985, 314:67-73 and Nature 1985, 316:76-79). The new technology was soon adopted for many other organisms including plants, and when Hilde Nybom, Kurt Weising and Alec Jeffreys first met at the very First International Conference on DNA Fingerprinting in Berne, Switzerland, in 1990, everybody was enthusiastic about the novel method that allowed us for the first time to discriminate between humans, animals, plants and fungi on the individual level using DNA markers. A newsletter coined "Fingerprint News" was launched, T-shirts were sold, and the proceedings of the Berne conference filled a first book on "DNA fingerprinting: approaches and applications".

Habitat fragmentation and recent bottlenecks influence genetic diversity and differentiation of the Central European halophyte Suaeda maritima (Chenopodiaceae).

Premise Of The Study: Central European salt habitats are mainly restricted to the maritime coast but scattered occurrences can also be found inland. In inland habitats, human activities have caused losses and reductions in the size of natural salt sites but have also created new anthropogenic habitats around potash mining dumps colonized by halophytic species in the last 30 yr. We aimed to investigate the effects of bottlenecks, isolation, and ongoing habitat fragmentation on the genetic variation of a species commonly growing in these special habitats.

A set of plastid microsatellite loci for the genus Dyckia (Bromeliaceae) derived from 454 pyrosequencing.

Premise Of The Study: Phylogeographical analyses of Dyckia (Bromeliaceae) suffer from low levels of sequence variation. Plastid microsatellite markers were developed to achieve a better-resolved genus-wide plastid genealogy of Dyckia. •

Methods And Results: Approximately 84% of the D.

Development of microsatellite markers in Fosterella rusbyi (Bromeliaceae) using 454 pyrosequencing.

Premise Of The Study: Polymorphic microsatellite markers were developed for Fosterella rusbyi (Bromeliaceae) to evaluate the population genetic structure and genetic diversity of natural populations of F. rusbyi and other Fosterella species in Bolivia.

Methods And Results: 454 pyrosequencing technology was used to generate 73027 sequence reads from F.

In silico mining for simple sequence repeat loci in a pineapple expressed sequence tag database and cross-species amplification of EST-SSR markers across Bromeliaceae.

A collection of 5,659 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.] was screened for simple sequence repeats (EST-SSRs) with motif lengths between 1 and 6 bp.

Genetic structure of coastal and inland populations of the annual halophyte Suaeda maritima (L.) dumort. in Central Europe, inferred from amplified fragment length polymorphism markers.

Naturally occurring inland salt habitats are highly threatened due to increasing fragmentation and area reduction, while the surroundings of former potash mining dumps have experienced a massive invasion by halophytes over the last 20 years. We reconstructed colonisation patterns of these purely anthropogenic inland salt sites using molecular markers in the obligate halophyte Suaeda maritima (L.) dumort.

Microsatellite markers for Spergularia media (L.) C. Presl. (Caryophyllaceae) and their cross-species transferability.

We developed 11 polymorphic microsatellite markers for Spergularia media (Caryophyllaceae), a perennial halophyte of coastal salt meadows and continental areas of western Eurasia. The number of alleles per locus observed in a single population of 20 individuals from the German North Sea coast ranged from 3 to 20. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.

Microsatellite markers for the tetraploid halophyte Suaeda maritima (L.) Dumort. (Chenopodiaceae) and cross-species amplification in related taxa.

We developed 12 polymorphic microsatellite markers for the tetraploid halophyte Suaeda maritima (Chenopodiaceae). Population genetic parameters were estimated for three populations from different habitats (coastal and inland), using the program Tetrasat. Between two and 15 alleles per locus were observed.

Isolation and characterization of 11 new microsatellite markers for Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae).

We provide primer sequences for 11 new polymorphic microsatellite markers developed in the tropical ant-plant genus Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae), after enrichment cloning of Macaranga tanarius and Macaranga hypoleuca. Allele numbers per locus ranged from two to 16 among 20 accessions of M. tanarius, and from three to 10 among 22 accessions of M.

Phylogenetic analysis of Fosterella L.B. Sm. (Pitcairnioideae, Bromeliaceae) based on four chloroplast DNA regions.

The about 31 species of Fosterella L.B. Sm.

Molecular marker based taxonomy and phylogeny of Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata - D. cayenensis).

Four different molecular techniques were used to assess relationships among 21 accessions of Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata and Dioscorea cayenensis) and 21 accessions belonging to seven putative progenitor species. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and microsatellite-primed PCR (MP-PCR) analysis yielded 246 informative characters that were transformed into a matrix of pairwise distances and analyzed by neighbor joining or split decomposition. Both methods gave congruent results.

Single nucleotide sequence analysis: a cost- and time-effective protocol for the analysis of microsatellite- and indel-rich chloroplast DNA regions.

We present a simple method to screen for DNA sequence variation in microsatellite- and indel-rich regions of the chloroplast genome. The single nucleotide sequence (SNS) analysis provides a trade-off between the time- and cost-effective, but less informative and homoplasy-sensitive electrophoretic detection of microsatellite and indel size variation on the one hand, and more costly, but also more accurate methods like DNA sequencing on the other. The principle of the SNS method is to sequence one instead of all four nucleotides of a target region amplified by polymerase chain reaction.

AFLP analysis of genetic relationships in the genus Fosterella L.B. Smith (Pitcairnioideae, Bromeliaceae).

The neotropical genus Fosterella L.B. Smith (Pitcairnioideae, Bromeliaceae) comprises about 30 species, with a centre of diversity in semiarid to humid habitats of the Andean slopes and valleys of Bolivia.

Application of bovine microsatellite markers for genetic diversity analysis of European bison (Bison bonasus).

In this study, the cross-amplification of a commercial multiplex set of 11 cattle (Bos taurus) microsatellites was tested on a panel of 35 European bison (Bison bonasus) individuals. After polymerase chain reaction optimization, all loci cross-amplified successfully in investigated bisons. Number of alleles and observed and expected heterozygosity per locus are in the range of 2-4, 0.

A chloroplast genealogy of myrmecophytic Macaranga species (Euphorbiaceae) in Southeast Asia reveals hybridization, vicariance and long-distance dispersals.

Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae) includes about 280 species with a palaeotropic distribution. The genus not only comprises some of the most prominent pioneer tree species in Southeast Asian lowland dipterocarp forests, it also exhibits a substantial radiation of ant-plants (myrmecophytes). Obligate ant-plant mutualisms are formed by about 30 Macaranga species and 13 ant species of the genera Crematogaster or Camponotus.

Development and characterization of chloroplast microsatellite markers in Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae).

As part of our study on the phylogeography of the ant-plant genus Macaranga, we have screened for polymorphic regions in the chloroplast genome. Initially, ten universal PCR primer pairs targeted at chloroplast microsatellite loci were applied to a small set of specimens, covering various taxonomic levels from intrafamilial to intraspecific. Eight primer pairs produced PCR fragments that behaved as single and discrete bands on agarose gels.

Molecular analysis of phylogenetic relationships among Myrmecophytic macaranga species (Euphorbiaceae).

Many species of the paleotropical pioneer tree genus Macaranga Thou. (Euphorbiaceae) live in association with ants. Various types of mutualistic interactions exist, ranging from the attraction of unspecific ant visitors to obligate myrmecophytism.