Characterization of thirteen microsatellite loci from the Ghanian antimalarial plant Cryptolepis sanguinolenta

Cryptolepis sanguinolenta (Lindl.) Schlechter (Periplocaceae) is an herbaceous plant used in traditional medicine to treat malaria and populations of the species are diminishing due to overharvesting and lack of conservation. Codominant microsatellite markers that can be used to characterize genetic diversity and population structure are currently not available. Therefore, the study isolated 75 microsatellite loci from genomic sequence data, which were then screened for the ability to reveal polymorphisms. From the 75 candidate loci, 13 polymorphic microsatellite loci were optimized for future population genetics studies. Twenty-two C. sanguinolenta samples were collected from eight different geographical locations in Ghana. Alleles per locus ranged from 3 to 7 with a mean of 4.4.  Expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.24 to 0.77, and all but one locus deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Genetic differentiation mean was 0.06 among all loci, indicating relatively low genetic diversity in these samples. These microsatellite loci should be useful to study genetic diversity, gene flow and population structure as well as in a project involving breeding and conservation of C. sanguinolenta.     Key words: Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, genetic diversity, malaria, medicinal plant, microsatellites.