Isolation and characterisation of 20 microsatellite loci from the Chinese green tree viper Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri

Abstract

The Chinese green tree viper (Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri), one of the most common snakes in Southeast Asia, can be a good model species for evolutionary and behavioral research. However, there is no high polymorphic co-dominant marker that can be used for individual-based genetic analyses available for this species. Therefore, we developed 20 polymorphic microsatellite loci for T. s. stejnegeri in Taiwan by screening a microsatellite-enriched DNA library. The allele numbers of these loci ranged from 3 to 22, and the observed heterozygosity were 0.042-1.000. The probability of false parent non-exclusion was 2 × 10−5 for those loci that conformed to the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. These highly polymorphic microsatellite markers are useful for both individual-based and population-level analysis. Furthermore, this is the first set of microsatellite markers developed for Trimeresurus, and could be applied to closely related species to address various research questions on evolution and animal behavior.