Microsatellite loci in wild-type and inbred Strongylocentrotus purpuratus

Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, a major research model in developmental mole cular biology, has been inbred through six generations of sibling matings. Though viability initially decreased, as described earlier, the inbred line now consists of healthy, fertile animals. These are intended to serve as a genomic resource in which the level of polymorphism is decreased with resp ect to wild S. purpuratus. To genotype the inbred animals eight simple sequ ence genomic repeats were isolated, in context, and PCR primers were genera ted against the nanking single-copy sequences. Distribution and polymorphis m of these regions of the genome were studied in the genomes of 27 wild ind ividuals and in a sample of the inbred animals at F2 and F3 generations. Al l eight regions were polymorphic, though to different extents, and their ho mozygosity was increased by inbreeding as expected. The eight markers suffi ce to identify unambiguously the cellular DNA of any wild or F3 S. purpurat us individual. (C) 1999 Academic Press.