Background: Keteleeria davidiana var. formosana (Pinaceae), Taiwan cow-tail fir, is an endangered species listed onthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and only two populations remain, both on the Taiwan Island. Sixteenpolymorphic microsatellite loci were developed in an endangered and endemic gymnosperm species, Keteleeriadavidiana var. formosana, and were tested in an additional 6 taxa, K. davidiana var. calcarea, K. davidiana var.chienpeii, K. evelyniana, K. fortunei, K. fortunei var. cyclolepis, and K. pubescens, to evaluate the genetic variationavailable for conservation management and to reconstruct the phylogeographic patterns of this ancient lineage.
Findings: Polymorphic primer sets were developed from K. davidiana var. formosana using the modified AFLP andmagnetic bead enrichment method. The number of alleles ranged from 3 to 16, with the observed heterozygosityranging from 0.28 to 1.00. All of the loci were found to be interspecifically amplifiable.
Conclusions: These polymorphic and transferable loci will be potentially useful for future studies that will focus onidentifying distinct evolutionary units within species and establishing the phylogeographic patterns and theprocess of speciation among closely related species.
