Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in the Pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai

Four microsatellite loci, designated Hdh1321, Hdh78, Hdh1761, and Hdh1457, were isolated from the Pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, using an enrichment method based on magnetic/biotin capture of microsatellite sequences from a size-selected genomic library. Primers designed to amplify via polymerase chain reaction the microsatellite loci were used to screen 30 individuals from a natural Pacific abalone population in Onagawa Bay, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The four microsatellite loci were all polymorphic, with an average of 14.3 alleles per locus (range 7-20). The mean observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.48 (range 0.30-0.97) and 0.79 (range 0.60-0.92), respectively. Significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg expectations were observed at three loci as a result of homozygote excess. The expected heterozygosity values were considerably higher than those previously found for allozymes (range 0.101-0.125), suggesting that these microsatellite loci should provide useful markers for studies of trait mapping, kinship, and population genetics.