The sea cucumber Holothuria leucospilota has high medicinal
value and rich nutritional edible value, and thus is a commercially
important aquatic product in China. Microsatellite loci were developed
and screened using a fast isolation protocol and amplified fragment length
polymorphism of sequences containing repeats. In this study, 16 novel
polymorphic microsatellite markers in H. leucospilota were identified,
and the relevant genetic variability index was assessed using 30 individuals
from a wild population. The polymorphic information content ranged
from 0.183 to 0.668, and the number of alleles per locus varied from 3 to
5. The observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.0370-0.5000 and
0.0776-0.6250, respectively. With the exception of 3 loci (Y1-15, Y11-
1, and Y28), the polymorphic loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
(P > 0.003125). These polymorphic microsatellite loci will contribute to
studies of genetic diversity, the research of population structure, and the
design of conservation strategies for H. leucospilota