Development of 18 microsatellite markers forAtractylodes japonica

Atractylodes japonica (Asteraceae) is endemic to East Asia, where its rhizomes are used in traditional medicine. To investigate the genetic diversity of this species, we developed polymorphic microsatellite markers.We obtained a total of 175,825 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci using the Illumina HiSeq 2500 system. Eighteen polymorphic SSR primer pairs were selected to determine heterozygosity levels and allele numbers in 80 individuals from four A. japonica populations. The levels of observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.000 to 1.000 and from 0.133 to 0.892, respectively. Cross-amplification in the related species A. macrocephala and A. lancea was successful in 15 and 14 of the 18 markers, respectively.These microsatellite markers will be useful for future studies involving A. japonica population genetics and breeding.