Genetic diversity analysis of Siberian ginseng collection using SSR markers and their transferability to other species

Acanthopanax senticosus, commonly called as “Siberian ginseng”, is distributed in northeast Asia region including Korea, China and Japan. Diverse A. senticosus accessions were collected and preserved in ginseng & medicinal plants experiment station of Korea. In this study, we constructed simple sequence repeat (SSR)-enriched genomic DNA library of A. senticosus, and sequenced a total of 711 clones. Among the designed 190 primer pair flanking SSR motif, we finally acquired 21 polymorphic SSR markers and these were transferable other Acanthopanax species (A. sessiliflorus and A. gracilistylus var. gracilistylus). The allele number ranged from 2 to 16 with an average of 8.8 alleles, and average polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.527 ranged from 0.200 to 0.840 in Acanthopanax accessions. Phylogenic tree based on SSR profiles revealed the divergent clade according to the species. The 21 polymorphic and transferable microsatellite markers will be useful for genetic evaluation and classification of Acanthopanax species.