Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in Symbiodinium B1/B184, the dinoflagellate symbiont of the Caribbean sea fan coral, Gorgonia ventalina

Here we report primers targeting 10 microsatellite loci of dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium (clade B1/B184) symbiotic with the Caribbean sea fan coral, Gorgonia ventalina. Primers were tested on 12 Symbiodinium B1/B184 cultures, as well as 40 genomic DNA extracts of G. ventalina tissue samples. All loci were polymorphic with allelic richness ranging from 4-16. Gene diversity ranged from 0.15 to 0.91. These primers provide powerful tools for examining the fine-scale population structure and dynamics of Symbiodinium within a single host species.