Development and characterization of microsatellite markers in the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata

The characterization of 11 Leptinotarsa decemlineata microsatellite loci isolated using the fast isolation by AFLP of sequences containing repeats (FIASCO) protocol is reported. Three to 15 alleles per locus were detected in 54 beetles collected from four populations of L. decemlineata. The mean number of alleles was 7.4 +/- 3.2 and the level of expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.451 to 0.798. The total exclusionary probabilities using these loci for the first and the second parent were 0.982 and 0.999, respectively. These are the first microsatellite loci characterized from the Colorado potato beetles that can be used for estimating genetic diversity, population structure and parentage analysis.