Identification and characterization of 29 microsatellite loci for Tripneustes gratilla based on high-throughput sequencing

The sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla holds substantial ecological and economic importance in tropical marine ecosystems. To better understand the population structure and genetic diversity of T. gratilla, here we developed a suite of 29 polymorphic microsatellite makers based on high-throughput sequencing. The range of alleles characterized by these primers varied from 6 to 19, with an average number of 12.31. The observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.250 to 1.000 and from 0.808 to 0.955, respectively. All the polymorphism information content values of the 29 loci were above 0.5, suggestive of highly informative. Demonstrating adherence to Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, these 29 primer pairs present robust candidates for conducting population genetics and phylogeographic analyses in T. gratilla, which may provide valuable information for sustainable management and conservation efforts of this urchin.