Genetic diversity assessment of Aconitum coreanum (H. LEv.) Rapaics (Ranunculaceae), an endangered plant species in Korea, using microsatellite markers

【To assess the genetic diversity of Aconitum coreanum (Ranunculaceae) populations in Korea, we have amplified and sequenced eight organellar marker regions, and developed and analyzed microsatellite markers. No sequence variation was detected from the eight organellar markers. Ten microsatellites were developed using Next Generation Sequencing and two microsatellite markers, AK_CA03 and AK_CT07, were identified polymorphic and applied for 143 individuals of twelve A. coreanum populations. Four and five alleles were detected for the two microsatellite loci, respectively, and number of migrants ( $N_m$ ) was estimated as 1.12586. Two microsatellite marker loci showed $F_{ST}$ of 0.205 and 0.275, respectively. The heterozygosity deficit, low level of among-population differentiation, small size of gene flow, and lack of sequence variation of the organellar markers suggest that A. coreanum is reproductively isolated from other Aconitum species and there has been continuous gene flow among the populations of A. coreanum or it has dispersed relatively recently after speciation. Though population pairwise $F_{ST}$ 's presented significant geographic structure, further sampling and study will be necessary to confirm this.】