Isolation and characterization of 12 tetranucleotide repeat microsatellite loci from the green-backed tit (Parus monticolus)

From a partial genomic library enriched for GATA short tandem repeats, we developed 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci from the green-backed tit (Parus monticolus). We characterized these loci by genotyping 30 adult individuals with unknown relationship. The number of alleles ranged from four to 17 per locus (mean = 9.3 alleles) and the observed heterozygosity for each locus ranged from 0.633 to 0.933 (mean = 0.789). All loci conformed to Hardy-Weinberg expectations. Four of 66 possible pairwise comparisons between loci showed significant gametic disequilibrium.