Development of 39 polymorphic microsatellite markers for the jumbo squid Dosidicus gigas using Illumina paired-end sequencing

Dosidicus gigas is an abundant squid species supporting one of the most important fisheries in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Assessment and management of the fishery requires reliable information on the population’s genetic structure. In this study, we isolated and characterized 39 novel polymorphic microsatellite loci for D. gigas using Illumina paired-end sequencing. Loci were screened in 20 individuals from the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 4 to 26 (mean = 14.72). The observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.150 to 0.950 (mean = 0.604), and the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.487 to 0.972 (mean = 0.872). The polymorphic information content ranged from 0.440 to 0.945, with a mean of 0.836. These microsatellite loci are expected to be useful for further studies of genetic diversity and genetic structure of D. gigas.