Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in Symbiodinium B1/B184, the dinoflagellate symbiont of the Caribbean sea fan coral, Gorgonia ventalina

Jason P Andras; Nathan L Kirk; Mary Alice Coffroth; C Drew Harvell

doi:10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02549.x

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in Symbiodinium B1/B184, the dinoflagellate symbiont of the Caribbean sea fan coral, Gorgonia ventalina

Mol Ecol Resour. 2009 May;9(3):989-93. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02549.x. Epub 2009 Mar 2.

Authors

Jason P Andras¹, Nathan L Kirk, Mary Alice Coffroth, C Drew Harvell

Affiliation

¹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Dale R. Corson Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA, Department of Biological Sciences, 101 Life Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA, Department of Biological Sciences, 447 Hochstetter Hall, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA.

PMID: 21564815
DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02549.x

Abstract

Here we report primers targeting 10 microsatellite loci of dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium (clade B1/B184) symbiotic with the Caribbean sea fan coral, Gorgonia ventalina. Primers were tested on 12 Symbiodinium B1/B184 cultures, as well as 40 genomic DNA extracts of G. ventalina tissue samples. All loci were polymorphic with allelic richness ranging from 4-16. Gene diversity ranged from 0.15 to 0.91. These primers provide powerful tools for examining the fine-scale population structure and dynamics of Symbiodinium within a single host species.