Microsatellite markers for Senna spectabilis var. excelsa (Caesalpinioideae, Fabaceae)1

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Senna spectabilis var. excelsa (Fabaceae) is a South and Central American tree of great ecological importance and one of the most common species in several sites of seasonally dry forests. Our goal was to develop microsatellite markers to assess the genetic diversity and structure of this species. METHODS AND RESULTS We designed and assessed 53 loci obtained from a microsatellite-enriched library and an intersimple sequence repeat library. Fourteen loci were polymorphic, and they presented a total of 39 alleles in a sample of 61 individuals from six populations. The mean values of observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.355 and 0.479, respectively. Polymorphism information content was 0.390 and the Shannon index was 0.778. CONCLUSIONS Polymorphism information content and Shannon index indicate that at least nine of the 14 microsatellite loci developed are moderate to highly informative, and potentially useful for population genetic studies in this species.