Characterization of microsatellite loci from Litsea hypophaea (Lauraceae), a tree endemic to Taiwan

 Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were developed for the endemic tree Litsea hypophaea (Lauraceae) in Taiwan to investigate its genetic diversity and population genetic structure and to investigate species delimitation within Litsea .  Methods and Results: Fifteen new simple sequence repeat markers were developed from L. hypophaea with a magnetic bead enrichment method. Most loci were also amplifi ed from three closely related species, L. coreana , L. lii , and L. acutivena . The number of alleles and observed and expected heterozygosities across loci varied with a range of 1–25, 0.000–1.000, and 0.000–0.956, respectively.  Conclusions: The application of these microsatellite markers of L. hypophaea provides a tool for understanding genetic diversity and population differentiation. In addition, interspecifi c amplifi cation suggests that these markers will also be useful for species identifi cation of related taxa within Litsea in Taiwan.