Premise of the study: Microsatellite markers were developed in the invasive species Bidens alba (Asteraceae) to assess its population structure and to facilitate tracking its expansion in China. •
Methods and results: Using 454 pyrosequencing, 20 microsatellite primer sets were developed for B. alba. The markers were tested on one population of B. alba (30 individuals) and one population of the closely related B. pilosa (30 individuals) in China. For B. alba, all of the markers were polymorphic, and the number of alleles per locus ranged from three to 32. The expected heterozygosity values were from 0.3787 to 0.9284, and the Shannon-Wiener index was from 0.6796 to 2.8401. •
Conclusions: These markers will be useful for investigating the genetic structure, genetic diversity, and invasion dynamics of B. alba and will also be useful in studies of B. pilosa.
Keywords: Asteraceae; Bidens alba; microsatellite marker; simple sequence repeat (SSR).