Isolation and characterization of nuclear microsatellite loci in the northern shrimp, Pandalus borealis

We developed and characterized 20 microsatellite primer loci for the northern shrimp Pandalus borealis . All 20 loci were polymorphic with number of alleles ranging from 3 to 36 and with observed heterozygosity between 0.04 and 0.93. In addition, we tested the utility of these markers in three related shrimp species, P . montagui , Atlantopandalus propinqvus and Dichelopandalus bonnieri . These new markers will prove useful in the identification of stock structure and hence, assessment of the commercially important species P. borealis .