Isolation of novel microsatellite loci in the Rocky Mountain apollo butterfly, Parnassius smintheus.

Abstract

Microsatellite DNA loci have emerged as arguably the most popular molecular markers for ecological and evolutionary studies. They are prized for their high variability, co-dominant expression, and broad distribution throughout the genome. They have been widely used to study population genetic structure, kinship, and paternity. Butterflies have served as model systems in ecological and evolutionary studies, in part because they are often intimately associated with specific habitats, they are easily monitored and handled, and knowledge of their natural history is extensive (BOGGS et al. in press). Given the utility of butterflies as model systems in ecology and evolution, and the value of microsatellite markers as analytical tools in these fields, the application of microsatellite markers to studies of butterfly biology is very promising. Unfortunately, progress in this area has been hampered by the difficulty of isolating useful microsatellite markers from butterfly genomes (MEGLECZ and SOLIGNAC 1998; KEYGHOBADI et al. 1999; NEVE and MEGLECZ 2000). Very few microsatellite loci have been reported for butterflies or in fact for any Lepidoptera (PALO et al. 1995; BOGDANOWICZ et al. 1997; MEGLECZ and SOLIGNAC 1998; KEYGHOBADI et al. 1999; REDDY et al. 1999; HARPER et al. 2000; ANTHONY et al. 2001) and isolation and characterization of microsatellite markers is clearly more difficult in these insects than in most other organisms (MEGLECZ and SOLIGNAC 1998; NEVE and MEGLECZ 2000). Here, we describe four novel microsatellite loci useful for population studies in the butterfly, Parnassius smintheus (Doubleday). This brings the total number of usable loci for this species to eight, the largest number currently reported for any species of butterfly.