SREL Reprint #3300

 

Development and characterization of twenty-two polymorphic microsatellite markers for the leafcutter ant, Acromyrmex lundii, utilizing Illumina sequencing

Christian Rabeling1, Martin Bollazzi2, Maurício Bacci Jr.3, Rochelle R. Beasley4, Stacey L. Lance4,
Kenneth L. Jones5, and Naomi E. Pierce1

1Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
2Section of Entomology, University of the Republic, Avenida Garzon 780, 11200 Montevideo, Uruguay
3Instituto de Biociências, Centro de Estudos de Insetos Sociais, UNESP,
Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, SP 13506-900, Brazil
4Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, SC 29802, USA
5Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine,
Aurora, CO 80045, USA

Abstract: We isolated and characterized a total of 22 microsatellite loci for the leafcutter ant, Acromyrmex lundii. The loci were screened for 24 individuals from southern Brazil and Uruguay. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 5 to 20, the observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.417 to 0.917, and the probability of identity values ranged from 0.011 to 0.38. These genetic markers will be useful for understanding the population and conservation biology of the leafcutter ant A. lundii and closely related species, and will provide novel insights into the evolutionary biology of social parasitism and leafcutter ant mating systems.

Keywords: Leafcutter ants, Fungus-growing ants, Attini, Acromyrmex, Polygyny, Polyandry, Social parasitism, Microsatellites, Illumina, PAL_FINDER, PCR primers, SSR

SREL Reprint #3300

Rabeling, C., M. Bollazzi, M. Bacci Jr., R. R. Beasley, S. L. Lance, K. L. Jones, and N. E. Pierce. 2014. Development and characterization of twenty-two polymorphic microsatellite markers for the leafcutter ant, Acromyrmex lundii, utilizing Illumina sequencing. Conservation Genetic Resources 6: 319-322.

 

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).