Dor, L., Institute of Animal Science, Agricultural Research Organization, Bet Dagan, Israel
Shirak, A., Institute of Animal Science, Agricultural Research Organization, Bet Dagan, Israel
Gorshkov, S., National Center for Mariculture, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research (NCM), Eilat, Israel
Ron, M., Institute of Animal Science, Agricultural Research Organization, Bet Dagan, Israel
Hulata, G., Institute of Animal Science, Agricultural Research Organization, Bet Dagan, Israel

The white grouper (Epinephelus aeneus) has high commercial value, yet genomic tools for marker assisted domestication and breeding of the species are lacking. In this research, a total of 610 published sequences of microsatellites in Epinephelus species were found, from which 222 were suitable for primer design. Heterologous markers for E. aeneus were developed from microsatellite sequences of Epinephelus awoara, Epinephelus septemfasciatus, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, Epinephelus itajara, Epinephelus guttatus, Epinephelus akaara and Epinephelus lanceolatus. The yield of heterologous polymorphic microsatellites by species of origin ranged from 42 to 83%. The lowest yield was found for E. septemfasciatus (P=0.001), which is the most phylogenetically distant from E. aeneus. A total of 140 loci were found polymorphic in the wild-type E. aeneus population (WT) and 137 loci in its captive broodstock. The average number of alleles was 6.5 in the WT population and 3.5 in the captive population (P=3 e-25). A set of eight microsatellites with 6 to 10 alleles per marker in the WT population was developed for parentage analysis of the offspring population. Two males and two females were found to contribute genetic material in various pairing combinations, whereas one pair was shown to be the parents of most of the progeny (69.2%), suggesting the reproduction mode of E. aeneus as polygamous. The parentity test is being used to form a segregating population for linkage mapping of all available genetic markers, thereby creating the first-generation white grouper linkage map. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.