Development and characterization of 20 microsatellite markers in spotted sea bass (<em>Lateolabrax maculatus</em>) and cross-amplification in related species

Abstract

The spotted sea bass (Lateolabrax maculatus) is an economically valuable cultured fish species in China. In this study, 20 novel polymorphic microsatellite loci of <em>L. maculatus</em> were isolated from genomic data and characterized using 40 wild individuals. The number of alleles and the effective number of alleles ranged from 2 to 12 (average of 5.1000) and from 1.180 to 8.000 (average of 3.3097). The observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.083 to 0.875 (average of 0.4405) and from 0.153 to 0.875 (average of 0.5633), respectively. Deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was observed in 11 loci (P < 0.05). Polymorphism information content ranged from 0.141 to 0.862 (average of 0.5265) and most loci were heterozygous. Cross-amplification trials in two cryptic congeneric species, the largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, and the barramundi, <em>Lates calcarifer</em>, achieved successful amplification of 16 primers. The microsatellite markers developed in this study could be used for research on genetic breeding of <em>L. maculatus</em> and genetic relationships among tested taxa.