Premise of the study: Broussonetia papyrifera (Moraceae) is native to Asia and is used as a medicinal plant and as a source of fiber for making paper. It was dispersed into the Pacific region as a fiber source for making nonwoven textiles (barkcloth). Microsatellites were developed to trace the human-mediated dispersal of this species into the Pacific region.
Methods and results: A set of 36 microsatellites was isolated and initially assayed on 10 accessions to assess polymorphism. We found that 20 markers were polymorphic, with the number of alleles per marker ranging from four to 35 in 70 accessions genotyped from three Asian populations. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.04 to 0.85 and from 0.19 to 0.94, respectively. These markers were tested in four Moraceae species and one Rosaceae species.
Conclusions: These markers will be useful for the assessment of genetic diversity in B. papyrifera. They show low transferability to other species tested.
Keywords: Broussonetia papyrifera; Moraceae; genetic diversity; microsatellite.