Establishment of Microsatellite Markers to Assess the Mating System of the Fan-Tailed Gerygone (Gerygone flavolateralis) for Studying Cuckoo-Host Arms Race

Abstract

We developed a set of microsatellite markers for the fan-tailed gerygone (Gerygone flavolateralis), host of a brood parasite, the shining bronze-cuckoo (Chalcites lucidus). We used 454 pyro-sequencing to establish 17 polymorphic microsatellite markers. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 6 to 18, the expected heterozygosity from 0.328 to 0.931 and the polymorphism information content from 0.306 to 0.916. The developed set of microsatellites will allow us to determine the gerygone's mating system, which is crucial to understand inheritance of dichromatism in skin colour of their chicks.