Microsatellite multiplex panels for population genetic analysis of red sea bream Pagrus major

In this study, multiplex PCR panels were developed to amplify 20 microsatellite markers for red sea bream, Pagrus major, with the aim of reducing labor and material costs associated with genetic analysis of this species. The usefulness of these panels was validated in 200 fish collected at five sampling locations. The occurrence of null alleles was suggested at five markers, which were dropped from further analysis. The remaining 15 microsatellite loci showed high levels of heterozygosity (H _E range 0.34–0.97, H _O range 0.32–1) and a wide range in the number of alleles per locus (A; range 5–46). Increasing the number of microsatellite loci from three to ten and 15 improved the performance of the panels for population differentiation (F _ST) and estimation of Nei’s (D _S) genetic distance. The results of this study confirm the usefulness of genotyping a large number of microsatellite DNA markers to expand our knowledge of red sea bream population genetics.