Symplocarpus renifolius (Araceae), a tetraploid perennial herb, blooms in early spring, and is known as a thermogenous plants. Heat production in spadix enhancing reproductive success through male function is hypothesized as an evolutionary promoter for the exothermic habit, and evaluating male reproductive success is required to verify the hypothesis. To give an effective tool for such survey, we developed microsatellite markers of this species.

In summer of 2010, we collected 35 seeds artificially cross-pollinated and 56 buds of their parents in the Uryu Experimental Forest, northern Hokkaido. We extracted their total DNA, and obtained 25 kinds of ICSSR throughout the ICSSR method. We designed 40 maker candidates using primer sets of a cSSR at one end and a specific arrangement designed based on ICSSR at another end.

By the Microsatellite Analysis for twelve samples including eight seeds and four buds, we detected polymorphism in eleven of the candidates. Exclusive of three candidates with possibility of null alleles, we finally developed eight effective microsatellite markers of the species. Polymorphism was observed enough: from 8 to 18 alleles per each locus, and the minimum and maximum observed heterozygosity and the expected value ranged 0.70-0.93, 0.77-0.93, and 0.78-0.91, respectively.