Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellites from red coral grouper (Plectropomus maculatus)

The red coral grouper, Plectropomus maculatus , is a high value marine food fish species. We isolated the first set of 10 polymorphic microsatellites and examined their polymorphism in two related species: the Malabar grouper Epinephelus malabaricus and the brown-marbled grouper Epinephelus fuscoguttatus . The average allele number of these 10 microsatellite DNA loci is 9.1/locus with a range of four to 17, whereas the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.18 to 0.94, averaging 0.76. Five of the 10 markers amplified polymorphic and specific products in E. malabaricus , whereas only four were amplified in E. fuscoguttatus . These microsatellites could be applicable to captive breeding and to the studies on genetic diversity and population structure of grouper wild stocks.