A set of highly discriminating microsatellite loci for the Galápagos marine iguana Amblyrhynchus cristatus

Abstract

We describe here the cloning of 12 (7 dinucleotide, 1 trinucleotide and 4 tetranucleotide) microsatellite loci for the Galápagos marine iguana Amblyrhynchus cristatus. When tested for individuals from five different island populations on the Galápagos archipelago, high genetic diversities (9-20 alleles per locus) and heterozygosities (0.200-0.944) were observed. All loci showed no obvious deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The new set of microsatellite loci was able to assign individuals reliably to their island of origin, thus being able to discriminate between residents and migrants between islands. © 2006 The Authors.