Development of microsatellite markers in the gray ratsnake Ptyas korros (Colubridae)

Abstract

Ptyas korros is an oviparous colubrid snake that has a distribution covering the southeastern part of China (including Taiwan, Hainan and Hongkong), Indo-China Peninsula, India and Indonesia. The snake is listed as a vulnerable species according to the China Red Data Book of Endangered Animals. To develop effective conservation strategies for the snake, we need a better understanding of gene flow, population structure and evolutionary history of this species by using kinds of molecular markers such as mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite loci. Here, we characterize ten polymorphic microsatellite loci isolated from P. korros genomic libraries. Fifty-seven individuals were collected from Quanzhou population in Guangxi, China. These markers revealed a high degree of genetic diversity (4–14 alleles per locus) and heterozygosity (H _O ranged from 0.296 to 1.000, and H _E ranged from 0.419 to 0.868). No locus exhibited significant deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. There was no evidence of linkage disequilibrium among pairs of loci. These microsatellite markers will be useful for the study of gene flow, population structure and evolutionary history of P. korros.