Characterization of microsatellite loci in Tursiops aduncus

We describe the cloning and characterization of five highly polymorphic microsatellite loci cloned from aduncus dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) from Western Australia. Five polymorphic microsatellite loci were isolated and tested on up to 350 animals, showing 7-23 alleles and expected heterozygosity values from 0.68 to 0.89. We also tested the loci on striped dolphins and franciscana dolphins, where we also found high levels of polymorphism (9-16 alleles in 102 striped, and 4-5 alleles in 13 franciscana dolphins). Considering that the cetacean genome is highly conserved, the characterized markers are likely to be useful in a number of cetacean population studies.