Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were developed in the strongest and most economically important bamboo species, Dendrocalamus sinicus, to investigate its genetic variability.
Methods and results: Using the Fast Isolation by AFLP of Sequences COntaining Repeats (FIASCO) protocol, 16 polymorphic primer sets were identified within 24 individuals from two geographic locations. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to four, with a mean of 2.6. The observed and expected heterozygosities varied from 0 to 1.000 and from 0.311 to 0.754, respectively. The cross-amplification of the 16 primer pairs was tested in four other Dendrocalamus species, and nine to 13 (56.3-81.3%) primer pairs were successfully amplified.
Conclusions: These markers will be useful for studies on the genetic diversity of D. sinicus, which may facilitate conservation of this species.