Microsatellite DNA markers for population‐genetic studies of Atlantic bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus thynnus) and other species of genus Thunnus

• Published in: Molecular Ecology Notes
• Main Authors: Clark, T. B., Ma, L., Saillant, E., Gold, J. R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2004
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1471-8286.2004.00572.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1471-8286.2004.00572.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1471-8286.2004.00572.x

Abstract Twenty‐five microsatellites from Atlantic bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus thynnus ) were characterized. All 25 microsatellites were polymorphic; the number of alleles among up to 56 individuals surveyed ranged from two to 23. Atlantic bluefin tuna are highly exploited and major questions remain as to stock structure and abundance in the eastern and western North Atlantic. The microsatellites will be useful in testing stock‐structure hypotheses and in generating estimates of effective population size. The polymerase chain reaction primer sets developed also amplified identifiable alleles in three other species of genus Thunnus : T. albacares (yellowfin tuna), T. alalunga (albacore tuna) and T. obesus (bigeye tuna).