Successful cross-amplification of Shorea microsatellites reveals genetic variation in the tropical tree, Shorea robusta Gaertn.

Sal (Shorea robusta) is a tree species with very good quality timber found across tropical south Asia. Due to over-exploitation, its genetic resources are highly depleted. Here we report for the first time on molecular markers in sal. Cross-species amplification of 27 Shorea microsatellites resulted in 24 of them harboring amplicons of expected sizes. Five microsatellites were moderate to highly polymorphic (N(a)=6-19). Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.49 to 0.77 and 0.52 to 0.89, respectively. These microsatellites are found to be adaptively neutral and are useful for population genetic studies in this species.