Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in the commercially important mudshrimp Austinogebia edulis (Upogebiidae) using PCR-based isolation of microsatellite arrays (PIMA)

Populations of mudshrimp, Austinogebia edulis, in the intertidal mud flat of western Taiwan have severely declined due to habitat destruction and overfishing in the past decades. Nine polymorphic microsatellite loci were isolated for this ecologically threatened species by using a polymerase chain reaction-based procedure. The number of alleles per locus ranged from five to 14 in 20 specimens from Central West Taiwan. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0 to 0.2500 (averaged at 0.0944) and 0.7333 to 0.9385 (averaged at 0.8524), respectively. There were significant departures from Hardy-Weinberg expectations. Significant LD was discovered in most loci. These primers may provide a tool for understanding population structure in A. edulis.