Cloning and characterization of novel microsatellite DNA markers for the grass rockfish, Sebastes rastrelliger, and cross-species amplification in 10 related Sebastes spp

Here we report development and characterization of seven. polymorphic loci derived from grass rockfish (Sebastes rastrelliger) genomic DNA phagemid libraries enriched for microsatellite motifs. Within grass rockfish, average allelic diversity was 11.3 alleles per locus and average heterozygosity was 0.73. The seven loci also were surveyed in 10 related species of Sebastes where allelic diversity ranged from highly polymorphic to monomorphic. Deviations from Hardy-Weinberg were nonsignificant in all but one species/locus combination suggesting low occurrence of null alleles. Significant linkage disequilibrium was detected among three loci, but these events were limited to a single species in each case.