Microsatellite markers development in the clam,Paphia amabilis (Philippi, 1847)

The clam Paphia amabilis is an important edible shellfish in southern China and Japan. Recently the natural populations of this species has significantly decreased due to the environmental changes and overfishing. To support the conservation and aquaculture of this species, we developed 12 microsatellite markers for the clam and characterized them in a wild population. These markers were polymorphic with the number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 9, the observed heterozygosity and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.22 to 0.79 and from 0.33 to 0.87, respectively. Ten of the 12 markers conformed to Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. This is the first set of microsatellites developed for P. amabilis and these markers will promote the genetic studies and species protection of this species.