Development of 26 SNP markers in Dabry’s sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) based on high-throughput sequencing

Abstract

Dabry’s sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) is an endemic freshwater species in China mainly distributed in the mainstream of the upper Yangtze River and its tributaries. Due to river fragmentation, sand/gravel extraction, over-fishing, and water pollution, the wild population of Dabry’s sturgeon suffered a dramatic decline. In the present study, 26 novel single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were developed based on high-throughput sequencing. Genetic diversity analysis revealed that the values of observed heterozygosity (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He) varied from 0.1000 to 0.9000 and from 0.0974 to 0.5115, respectively, and the minor allele frequency ranged from 0.0500 to 0.4750. Only three loci showed significant deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium after Bonferroni correction. The SNP markers will serve as a valuable tool for further population genetics, genetic breeding, and resource conservation in this species.