Seven new microsatellite markers for crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci

Abstract

We isolated seven additional polymorphic microsatellites from the crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci. These loci provide one class of highly variable genetic markers, as the number of alleles ranged from 5 to 13 and the observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.083 to 0.957 and from 0.082 to 0.872, respectively. After Mann-Whitney test, there was no significant difference in the number of alleles, the PCR efficiency, and the observed and expected heterozygosities between the newly developed 7 markers and the previously reported markers. We consider that these loci are potentially useful for detailing the genetic structure and gene flow among A. planci populations. © The Japanese Association of Benthology.