Characterization of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the Antarctic krill Euphausia superba

• Published in: BMC Research Notes
• Main Authors: Candeias, Rui, Teixeira, Sara, Duarte, Carlos M., Pearson, Gareth A.
• Other Authors: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BioMed Central 2014
• Subjects: Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Antarc*; Antarctic Krill; Euphausia superba
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/90418; https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-0500-7-73; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329

Abstract Background The Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba is a pelagic crustacean, abundant in high-density swarms (10 000 – 30 000 ind/m2) with a circumpolar distribution and a key role in the food web of the Southern Ocean. Only three EST derived microsatellite markers have been used in previous genetic studies, hence we developed additional highly polymorphic microsatellite markers to allow robust studies of the genetic variability and population differentiation within this species. Findings The microsatellite markers described here were obtained through an enriched genomic library, followed by 454 pyrosequencing. A total of 10 microsatellite markers were tested in 32 individuals from the Antarctic Peninsula. One of the tested loci was fixed for one allele while the other was variable. Of the remaining nine markers, seven showed no departure from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The mean number of alleles was 14.9. Conclusions These markers open perspectives for population genetic studies of this species to unravel genetic structure, dispersal and population biology, vital information for future conservation. This study was supported by the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) through project PTCD/MAR/72630/2006 (GAP) and postdoctoral fellowship SFRH/BPD/39097/2007 (ST) and by the project ATOS funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (POL2006-00550/CTM). We thank the crew of R/V Hespérides, technicians from the UTM and cruise participants for help and support. Peer Reviewed