Microsatellite loci in the tiger shark and cross-species amplification using pyrosequencing technology

Natália J Mendes; Vanessa P Cruz; Fernando Y Ashikaga; Sâmia M Camargo; Claudio Oliveira; Andrew N Piercy; George H Burgess; Rui Coelho; Miguel N Santos; Fernando F Mendonça; Fausto Foresti

doi:10.7717/peerj.2205

Microsatellite loci in the tiger shark and cross-species amplification using pyrosequencing technology

PeerJ. 2016 Aug 30:4:e2205. doi: 10.7717/peerj.2205. eCollection 2016.

Affiliations

¹ Laboratório de Biologia e Genética de Peixes, Universidade Estadual Paulista , Botucatu, São Paulo , Brazil.
² Laboratório de Biologia e Genética de Peixes, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil; Laboratório de Genética Pesqueira e Conservação, Institute of Marine Sciences, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, São Paulo, Brazil.
³ Lake Nona Campus, Valencia College , Orlando, Florida , United States.
⁴ Florida Museum of Natural History, Florida Program for Shark Research, University of Florida , Gainesville, Florida , United States.
⁵ IPMA, Portuguese Institute for the Ocean and Atmosphere , Algarve , Portugal.
⁶ Laboratório de Genética Pesqueira e Conservação, Institute of Marine Sciences, Universidade Federal de São Paulo , Santos, São Paulo , Brazil.

Abstract

The tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) has a global distribution in tropical and warm temperate seas, and it is caught in numerous fisheries worldwide, mainly as bycatch. It is currently assessed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. In this study, we identified nine microsatellite loci through next generation sequencing (454 pyrosequencing) using 29 samples from the western Atlantic. The genetic diversity of these loci were assessed and revealed a total of 48 alleles ranging from 3 to 7 alleles per locus (average of 5.3 alleles). Cross-species amplification was successful at most loci for other species such as Carcharhinus longimanus, C. acronotus and Alopias superciliosus. Given the potential applicability of genetic markers for biological conservation, these data may contribute to the population assessment of this and other species of sharks worldwide.

Keywords: Galeocerdo cuvier; High-throughput sequencing; Microsatellites; Population structure; Shark.

Grants and funding

R. Coelho is supported by an Investigador-FCT contract from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) supported by the EU European Social Fund and the Programa Operacional Potencial Humano (Ref: IF/00253/2014). N.J. Mendes was supported by a grant from Foundation for Research Support of the São Paulo State—FAPESP (Ref: 2013/14555-4). This work was funded by FAPESP (Ref: BIOTA 2011/23787-0). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.