Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the sea cucumber Holothuria scabra

The sea cucumber Holothuria scabra is an endangered species. In this study, nine new polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed and tested in 30 individuals. The number of alleles ranged from 2 to 5, and the observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.1200 to 0.7391 and from 0.2408 to 0.5983, respectively. No loci significantly deviated from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium af-ter a Bonferroni correction, and no significant linkage disequilibrium was found between pairs of loci. These polymorphic microsatellite loci will be useful in studying the genetic diversity of H. scabra and its conservation.