Characterization of Microsatellite Markers and Their Application to Genetic Diversity Analysis of Brachypodium sylvaticum var. breviglume from Yunnan, China

Southwestern China is abundant in a large species diversity of grasses and Brachypodium sylvaticum var. breviglume is unquestionably appropriate to serve as an ideal model to investigate the adaptation, evolution and diversification of grasses in this region. In this study, a total of 37 microsatellite markers were screened and genetic variation was estimated for 100 individuals from the five natural populations of the species. Our results showed that seven of them were polymorphic for the five studied populations, while the other thirty were monomorphic. These seven SSR loci exhibited a high level of genetic diversity among populations, i.e. allele number varied from 5 to 24, with an average of 13.29; expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.439 to 0.561, with an average of 0.488; percentage of polymorphic loci (PPL) ranged from 85.71% to 100%, with an average of 97. 14%. The FCA and UPGMA analyses revealed that the five populations were divided into three clusters. Our results indicate that these newly characterized SSR markers are useful for the exploration of genetic diversity and evolutionary history of the B. sylvaticum var. breviglume populations in Yunnan, China.