RESUMO
Objective: In order to determine the geographic distribution of genetic variation and structure of natural populations in an endangered and rarely medicinal herb Notopterygium forbesii var. oviforme. Methods The primers of polymorphic microsatellite molecular markers of N. forbesii var. oviforme were firstly developed using the next generation reduced-representation sequencing technology. Then, the genetic polymorphisms of the whole geographical distributional population samples of N. forbesii var. oviforme were investigated based on the polymorphic SSRs. Results:A total of 780 SSR-containing DNA sequences were obtained by genome De novo assembly. Ten pairs of polymorphic SSR primers were developed and used to analyze the genetic variability of 105 individuals from six natural populations that covered the entire geographical distributions of N. forbesii var. oviforme. The results showed that the number of observed alleles (No) per locus varied between 1 and 6 (mean = 3.530). The mean observed heterozygosity (Ho) per population ranged from 0.305 to 0.457. These finds suggested that N. forbesii var. oviforme had the moderate to high level of genetic variability. Bayesian clustering analyses demonstrated that the six natural populations of N. forbesii var. oviforme have formed two clear genetic lineages. The gene flow and/or genetic introgression have occurred between these two groups. Conclusion:The next generation reduced-representation sequencing technology largely enriched SSRs database of N. forbesii var. oviforme. The geographic distribution patterns of genetic variations of N. forbesii var. oviforme may be related to the long evolutionary history of species and pollen dispersal of long distance among different natural populations.