Development and characterization of nine polymorphic microsatellite markers in the sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus (Gobiidae)

A microsatellite-enriched genomic library was constructed for the sand goby, Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas 1770), and nine polymorphic DNA microsatellite markers of high quality were successfully optimized. Characterization of 96 individuals from the Vaccares lagoon (France) showed moderate to high levels of polymorphism (two to 54 alleles). All the markers conformed to Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium and showed no evidence of null alleles, large allele dropout, stuttering and linkage disequilibrium between pairs of loci. These markers successfully amplify in three closely related species and can be employed to investigate population genetic structure and to clarify paternity in Pomatoschistus species.