3. Results
Seventeen SSR markers were screened, but no variationwas detected within or among the six populations (Table 2). All of
the individuals were homozygous, sharing the same genotype in each locus.
No sequence variationwas detected within or among the populations for the chloroplast DNA sequence of the trnL intron,
psbB-psbF, or trnL-trnF. When the psbB-psbF sequence of S. maritima from the Paracel Islands was compared to the psbB-psbF
sequence (673 bp) of S. maritima from the USA (obtained from GenBank), the similarity of two sequences was 100%. When the
trnL intron sequence of S. maritima from the Paracel Islands was compared to the trnL intron sequence (472 bp) of S. maritima
from South Africa (obtained from GenBank), two base insertions were detected (GA, in 239e240 bp) in the Paracel Islands
sequence, and the similarity of the two sequences was 99.6%.