Development and characterization of microsatellite markers for genetic analysis of Moerella iridescens Benson, 1842

Moerella iridescens (Benson) is an economically important small-sized edible marine clam from the Changjiang River delta region of China. In this study, 13 polymorphic microsatellite loci were isolated and characterized in a wild population from the Cixi mud flats. The number of alleles varied between two and six, and the observed and expected heterozygosity at the population level ranged from 0.2000 to 0.8095 and 0.3243 to 0.5106, respectively. No single locus significantly deviated from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium ( P > 0.01). All of the polymorphic markers would be useful for future genome mapping, genetic diversity and population assessment studies in M. iridescens .