Abstract
The leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is a globally endangered marine species. Numerous questions regarding life history and demographics that are of conservation interest remain and many of these can be addressed through the use of highly polymorphic nuclear markers. We describe primers and polymerase chain reaction conditions to amplify 19 tetranucleotide microsatellite loci from the leatherback turtle. The primers were tested on samples from 22 females that nested at Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, Melbourne Beach, Florida, USA. The primers developed in this study yielded an average of 9.4 alleles per locus (range of 5–19) and an average observed heterozygosity of 0.84 (range 0.36–1.00). These markers should prove useful in supplementing existing markers for individual and population level analyses.
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Acknowledgments
Samples were collected under Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Marine Turtle Permit #25 and Animal Care and Use Committee Permit # A2009 3-050. We thank the many students representing the University of Central Florida Marine Turtle Research crew that collected genetics samples. We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.
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Travis I. Alstad and Brian M. Shamblin contributed equally to this work.
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Alstad, T.I., Shamblin, B.M., Bagley, D.A. et al. Isolation and characterization of tetranucleotide microsatellites from the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). Conservation Genet Resour 3, 457–460 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-010-9378-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-010-9378-z