Setophaga caerulescens Transcriptome or Gene expression

Populations of Black-throated Blue warblers (BTBW) at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest are part of a long-term study, part of which evaluates individual fitness by determining paternity using molecular resources. Thus far microsatellite markers have been the marker of choice for determining paternity; however, these markers can be difficult to accurately score and their evolution is poorly understood. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) present a more attractive marker for paternity studies given their ease of scoring and mutation patterns; however, no comprehensive comparison between the two marker types related to the number and variability of markers necessary for high paternity exclusion probability has been undertaken in birds. To develop a set of SNPs for paternity analyses in BTBW for comparison to a long-term microsatellite dataset we assembled the BTBW transcriptome from which we called SNPs to construct a SNPs for paternity assay.