Characterization of 14 novel microsatellite loci in the Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae) via 454 pyrosequencing

We have developed 14 novel microsatellite loci for the Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae), using samples from invasive populations from the US state of Florida. Pyrosequencing was used to identify 3154 potentially amplifiable microsatellite loci and to subsequently develop 14 informative markers. These 14 markers were screened for variation in 40 individuals from Miami-Dade County, Florida. All loci were polymorphic and contained between 2 and 4 alleles per locus (mean +/- SE = 2.71 +/- 0.24), with observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.00 to 0.88 (mean +/- SE = 0.38 +/- 0.07). Four of the loci (Teg4, Teg5, Teg17, Teg19) significantly deviated from Hardy-Weinberg proportions and three of these loci (Teg4, Teg5, Teg19) showed evidence of null alleles. In addition, there was statistical evidence for genotypic disequilibrium between Teg14 and Teg19. BLASTn searches of NCBI's 'nr/nt' database using microsatellite containing 454 fragments as queries were largely uninformative; however, it is likely that some of these markers will be of utility in S. merinae's native range.