Preliminary data on variation of four microsatellite loci in Pacific herring Clupea pallasii

Variation of microsatellite loci Cpa110, Cpa113, Cpa4, and Cpa7 was for the first time examined in Pacific-type herring Clupea pallasii from the White Sea (Cl. pallasii marisalbi), the Kara Sea (Cl. pallasii suworowi), the Sea of Okhotsk, and Lake Nerpich'e, Kamchatka Bay, northwestern Pacific (Cl. pallasii pallasii). All loci exhibitedhigh genetic diversity. The estimates of expected heterozygosity varied from 41.5 to 95.6% (mean, 82%). The level of pairwise genetic differentiation F (st) at all microsatellite loci varied from 0.005 to 0.076 (0.019, on average) and t was statistically significant (p < 0.05) in most of the pairs of herring samples. Estimates of genetic differentiation among the herring of one subspecies were lower than between the groups belonging to different subspecies.