Development of Genomic Resources From Crossostephium Chinense (Asteraceae) Based on Genome Skimming Data

Abstract Crossostephium chinense is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb and it is often cultivated as an ornamental plant. Previous studies on this species mainly focused on its chemical composition and it was represented rarely and marginally in genetic studies, which limited knowledge about its genetic background, and thus genomic resources remain scarce. To develop both chloroplast and nuclear polymorphic microsatellites for C. chinense, potential microsatellites were screened from genome skimming data of two individuals of C. chinense. Sixty-four and 63 cpSSR markers were identified from two chloroplast genomes of C. chinense. This study performed for the first-ever study on employment of genome skimming data and CandiSSR, consequently a total of 133 polymorphic nSSRs were developed. Ten nSSRs were randomly selected to test their transferability across 35 individuals from three populations of C. chinense, and 20 individuals each of Artemisia stolonifera and A. argyi. Cross-amplifications were successful done for C. chinense, and were partially successful amplified for both Artemisia species. The number of alleles varied from two to nine. The observed heterozygosity and expected heterozygosity per locus ranged from 0.000 to 0.286 and from 0.029 to 0.755, respectively. These genomic resources will be valuable for population genetics and conservation studies in C. chinense and Artemisia.