Characterization of 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci in the South American lizard Liolaemus fitzingerii with cross-amplification in L. chehuachekenk

Abstract

We describe the characterization of ten polymorphic microsatellite loci from the Liolaemus fitzingerii species complex with cross-amplification for nine of the 10 loci in L. chehuachekenk. The number of alleles within L. fitzingerii ranged from 7 to 24 and the observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.311 to 0.956 for 45 individuals. Nine of the ten loci conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and we did not detect linkage disequilibrium between loci in L. fitzingerii. Cross-species amplification in L. chehuachekenk was successful for nine of the ten loci with polymorphisms detected for each successfully amplified locus. These microsatellite loci are the first developed for the Eulaemus clade of the genus, and will aid in both ongoing and future studies focusing on gene flow, historical divergence and population structure within the Liolaemus fitzingerii species complex.