Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci for the blackstripe topminnow Fundulus notatus and their variability in two closely related species.

Abstract

A total of 17 polymorphic microsatellite loci were isolated from the blackstripe topminnow Fundulus notatus. In a sample of 29 individuals, these loci were found to possess two to 19 alleles with expected heterozygosity values ranging from 0.212 to 0.919 and all but one of the loci conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations. Many of these loci were polymorphic in the closely related species Fundulus olivaceus and Fundulus euryzonus providing a set of markers that should prove useful in future ecological and evolutionary studies of members of this species complex.