Isolation of microsatellite markers for Bletilla striata and cross-amplification in other related species

Bletilla is a temperate, terrestrial genus of orchids containing 6 species. For the species whose whole genome is unknown, we used magnetic bead hybridization method to develop microsatellite Simple Repeat Polymorphoresis (SSR) for Bletilla striata and 9 primer sets were characterized in two wild populations of B. striata and one wild population of Bletilla ochracea . The number of alleles per locus ranged from 1 to 12. The expected and observed heterozygosities ranged from 0 to 0.7646 and 0 to 0.950 in B. striata , respectively. In B. ochracea , the expected and observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.296 to 0.871 and 0.05 to 1, respectively. The 9 pairs of primers we designed can be used to distinguish different ecotypes and species, and might be used for other subspecies or species in genera Bletilla . Keywords: Bletilla striata , cross-species amplification, simple repeat polymorphoresis (SSR).