Isolation and characterization of fifteen microsatellite loci from the redclaw crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus

The redclaw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) is a freshwater crayfish species endemic to northern Australia and Papua New Guinea that is the focus of a growing culture industry in number of regions around the world. Here we isolated and characterized 15 microsatellite loci from Cherax quadricarinatus and tested variability of the loci in 66 unrelated cultured individuals. Thirteen of 15 microsatellite loci were polymorphic. Number of alleles per locus ranged from two to seven while observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.172 to 0.985 and from 0.373 to 0.778, respectively. Eleven loci conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the sampled population. These microsatellite loci developed here provide an important resource for studying genetic diversity and population structure in redclaw crayfish and potentially in other related species.