Four-way development of microsatellite markers for the Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae)

The Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae) went through a huge population decline in the last century. To address questions on conservation genetics, ecology and evolutionary biology we characterised 120 microsatellite markers (30 Z-linked) in this species using four methods: designing primers from the reference genome of a confamilial species (the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata, n = 15); Sanger (n = 47) and 454-sequencing (n = 5) of microsatellite-enriched Gouldian finch libraries; and characterisation of cross-species markers (n = 53). We also identified 1992 primer-designable microsatellites for this species.9 page(s