Simple sequence repeat marker development from Codonopsis lanceolata and genetic relation analysis

In this study, we developed 15 novel polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers by SSR-enriched genomic library construction from Codonopsis lanceolata. We obtained a total of 226 non-redundant contig sequences from the assembly process and designed primer sets. These markers were applied to 53 accessions representing the cultivated C. lanceolata in South Korea. Fifteen markers were sufficiently polymorphic, and were used to analyze the genetic relationships between the cultivated C. lanceolata. One hundred three alleles of the 15 SSR markers ranged from 3 to 19 alleles at each locus, with an average of 6.87. By cluster analysis, we detected clear genetic differences in most of the accessions, with genetic distance varying from 0.73 to 0.93. Phylogenic analysis indicated that the accessions that were collected from the same area were distributed evenly in the phylogenetic tree. These results indicate that there is no correlative genetic relationship between geographic areas. These markers will be useful in differentiating C. lanceolata genetic resources and in selecting suitable lines for a systemic breeding program.