Dracaena cambodiana is a narrow-distributed species, which is found in Yunnan, Guangxi, and Hainan provinces in China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. In 2001, D. cambodiana was listed as an endangered species due to its highly restricted distribution and overexploitation. Considering its medicinal, ornamental and ecological values, an appropriate conservation program is urgently needed to prevent further loss of D. cambodiana. Therefore, it is essential to develop molecular markers for the population genetic analysis of D. cambodiana to provide essential information for the development of a management and conservation strategy.

Under the guidance of Assoc. Prof. LI Qiaoming, XTBG Ph.D candidate ZHANG Lu developed microsatellite markers for D. cambodiana. A total of 26 microsatellite markers were developed in Chinese populations of D. cambodiana, using the Fast Isolation by AFLP of Sequences Containing Repeats (FIASCO) protocol. Among them, sixteen primer pairs generated polymorphic loci (fourteen of them successfully amplified in other four Dracaena species) and ten primer pairs produced monomorphic loci.

These 16 polymorphism microsatellite markers could be used to assess the genetic diversity and genetic structure of population genetics of D. cambodiana and other Dracaena species.