Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci for Hymenaea courbaril and transferability to Hymenaea stigonocarpa, two tropical timber species.

Hymenaea courbaril is a tropical timber species, intensely exploited and found in the Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Brazilian Cerrado biome. Nine highly polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed from a genomic library enriched for AG/TC repeats. In a total of 41 individuals, from two natural populations, seven to 13 alleles per locus were detected and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.75 to 0.90. Seven loci were effectively transferred to Hymenaea stigonocarpa. High levels of polymorphism make the present primers useful for population genetic studies and are a powerful tool to investigate mating system, gene flow and spatial genetic structure.