Microsatellite marker isolation and development for the giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini)

We isolated and developed 18 novel microsatellite markers for the giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) and examined them for 31 individuals from Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska. These loci displayed moderate levels of allelic diversity (averaging 11 alleles per locus) and heterozygosity (averaging 65%). Seven loci deviated from Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) due to heterozygote deficiency for the PWS population, although deviations were not observed for all these loci in other populations, suggesting the PWS population is not in mutation-drift equilibrium. These novel microsatellite loci yielded sufficient genetic diversity for potential use in population genetics, individual identification, and parentage studies.