Twelve novel polymorphic microsatellite loci developed from the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus)

Since the number and range of Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) are declining due to habitat loss and illegal trade, it is essential to take effective actions to reinforce the conservation of the remaining bear populations. In order to aid such conservation efforts, we developed 12 novel polymorphic microsatellite loci of Asiatic black bear from genomic DNA-enriched libraries in this paper. The number of alleles per locus in 24 individuals ranged from 3 to 10, the average observed heterozygosity per locus from 0.214 to 0.950, and the average expected heterozygosity per locus from 0.243 to 0.891. Eight loci followed Hardy-Weinberg expectations after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. No significant linkage association was found among all these loci. The 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci will be helpful to the conservation of the Asiatic black bear.