Asolation and characterization of new microsatellite markers for the cortés geoduck (Panopea globosa)

Abstract

The geoduck Panopea globosa is a long-lived and large endemic infaunal clam sustaining a growing fishery in the Northwest coast of México that, in spite of its increasing demand in Asian markets very little is known about its biology. In order to provide genetic markers to support genetic  research of wild populations, nine novel microsatellite loci (di-, tri-, and tetranucleotide repeats) were developed using shotgun sequencingwith next generation technology (Illumina). The number of alleles per locus ranged from 3 to 16 and the observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.286 to 0.650 and 0.504 to 0.906, respectively. Five loci were found to be significantly deviated from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and three pairs showed evidence of linkage disequilibrium. Most loci are highly informative for population genetics and linkage analyses according to theirpolymorphism information content (> 0.5) and will be useful for increasing our understanding of the wild population structure and developing a  sustainable fishery management..