Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the hard-shelled mussel, Mytilus coruscus (Mytilidae).

Mytilus coruscus is one of the most important cultured species of marine shellfish in China. Using an expressed sequence tag-library and two microsatellite-enriched genomic libraries of M. coruscus, we isolated and characterized 12 polymorphic microsatellites in a test population; the number of alleles ranged from three to seven, and the observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.0333 to 0.8571 and from 0.3452 to 0.8267, respectively. Four loci deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. These polymorphic microsatellite loci can be employed in genetic diversity analysis and molecular marker-assisted breeding of M. coruscus.