Development of microsatellite markers from four Hawaiian corals: Acropora cytherea, Fungia scutaria, Montipora capitata and Porites lobata

Abstract

Comprehensive population genetic studies of coral communities are comparatively rare, because of the scarcity of population genetic markers. The Hawaiian archipelago offers a unique perspective into understanding the population genetic structuring of this ecologically important group of organisms. Here we report the development of microsatellite marker libraries from holobiont extracts of four corals: Acropora cytherea (n = 50), Fungia scutaria (n = 118), Montipora capitata (n = 140) and Porites lobata (n = 149). Blast searches indicate that these libraries contain microsatellites from both the coral host and Symbiodinium endosymbionts from each coral. In addition, we also present redesigned primers for the nuclear coding region (atpsβ) for use in M. capitata. We report testing and optimization for seven of these microsatellites from A. cytherea, and eight microsatellites and the atpsβ locus from M. capitata. Using 25 individuals per species collected from each French Frigate Shoals (FF) and Johnston Atoll (JO), the number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 9. Expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.38 to 0.85 and 0.08 to 0.87 for A. cytherea and M. capitata, respectively. We expect that these libraries will be a valuable resource and provide additional useful microsatellite markers for both the coral host and zooxanthellae.