Characterization of microsatellite loci in the lichen-forming fungus Cetraria aculeata (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota)

Premise of the study: Polymorphic microsatellite markers were developed for the lichen species Cetraria aculeata (Parmeliaceae) to study fine-scale population diversity and phylogeographic structure. Methods and results: Using Illumina HiSeq and MiSeq, 15 fungus-specific microsatellite markers were developed and tested on 81 specimens from four populations from Spain. The number of alleles ranged from four to 13 alleles per locus with a mean of 7.9, and average gene diversities varied from 0.40 to 0.73 over four populations. The amplification rates of 10 markers (CA01-CA10) in populations of C. aculeata exceeded 85%. The markers also amplified across a range of closely related species, except for locus CA05, which did not amplify in C. australiensis and C. "panamericana," and locus CA10 which did not amplify in C. australiensis. Conclusions: The identified microsatellite markers will be used to study the genetic diversity and phylogeographic structure in populations of C. aculeata in western Eurasia.