Nuclear microsatellite loci for Arabidopsis halleri (Brassicaceae), a model species to study plant adaptation to heavy metals

Premise of the study: Arabidopsis halleri is a model species to study the adaptation of plants to soils contaminated by zinc, cadmium, and lead. To provide a neutral genetic background with which adaptive genetic markers could be compared, we developed highly polymorphic neutral microsatellite markers. Methods and Results: Using a microsatellite-enriched library method, we identified 120 microsatellite loci for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping analysis, of which eight primer pairs were developed in a single multiplex for population genetic studies. Analyses were performed on 508 individuals from 26 populations. All loci were polymorphic with six to 23 alleles per locus. Genetic diversity varied between 0.56 and 0.76. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the value of these eight microsatellite markers to investigate neutral population genetic structure in A. halleri. To increase the resolution of population genetic analyses, we suggest adding them to the 11 markers previously developed independently.