title: Development and  characterization of 70 novel microsatellite markers for the sea cucumber (Apostichopus  japonicus).
abstract: The sea  cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) is an important item in Asian cuisine.  It is currently produced through aquaculture, especially in China, after being  overexploited in the wild in the 1990s. We isolated 70 novel polymorphic  microsatellite loci using an enrichment-colony hybridization protocol. All loci  were characterized in 48 individuals from a natural population in Rongcheng  (Shandong, China) using genomic DNA isolated from muscle tissue. The number of  alleles ranged from 2 to 17 (mean 7.0), and the observed and expected  heterozygosities varied from 0.0010 to 1.0000 and from 0.2125 to 0.9477,  respectively. Thirty-one of the 70 loci exhibited departure from Hardy-Weinberg  equilibrium. These microsatellite markers should be useful resources for population  genetic studies and for molecular marker-assisted breeding of A. japonicus.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Marine Genetics and Breeding, College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, P.R. China.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Z M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: H X
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D047528:Stichopus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D005819:Genetic Markers