Microsatellite Markers and Genetic Diversity of Four Scleractinian Corals

Abstract

Eighteen microsatellite sequences were isolated from Platygyra acuta through magnetic bead hybridization enrichment method, and the site primers were used to analyze the genetic diversity of P. acuta, Platygyra daedalea, Favites flexuosa, and Porites lutea. Results showed that among the 18 microsatellites of P. acuta, 12 (66.67%) were perfect, 3 (16.67%) were imperfect, and the remaining 3 (16.67%) were compound type. P. acuta, P. daedalea, F. flexuosa, and P. lutea were detected to have 39, 28, 40, and 21 alleles using 12 pairs of common primers. The genetic diversity analysis of the four scleractinian populations indicated that the average polymorphism information contents were 0.5168, 0.4250, 0.5286, and 0.3409; the average expected heterozygosity values were 0.6667, 0.6042, 0.5972, and 0.4702; and the average effective numbers of allele were 2.7112, 2.5376, 2.6860, and 2.0081, respectively. All results indicated that the P. acuta and the F. flexuosa populations had high levels of genetic diversities, whereas P. daedalea and P. lutea had moderate levels of genetic diversities. In addition, environment stresses and the modes of reproduction of corals may be the main reasons for the deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.