Ipomoea trifida belongs to the family Convolvulaceae and is closely related to sweetpotato. In this study, we reported the microsatellites in I. trifida sequence database, and tested their transferability and polymorphisms for both sweetpotato and its related wild species.

In the DNA database, 1425 sequences were registered for I. trifida. Sixty-one independent sequences were found to have microsatellite motifs and PCR primers were designed to amplify 15 microsatellites loci identified. Twelve primer pairs could amplify the expected product size and nine primer pairs showed polymorphisms among the three genotypes of I. trifida. These 12 functional primer pairs were used to assess the transferability and the level of polymorphism between sweetpotato cultivars and its related wild species. The transferability showed, 100% for I. batatas, 83.3% for I. tiliacea, 75% for I. triloba and 66.7% for I. Lacunosa, respectively. These markers also revealed high level of polymorphism between wild species and sweetpotato cultivars.