Data from: Rapid development and screening of microsatellite loci for Artibeus lituratus and their utility for six related species within Phyllostomidae

Microsatellites are often the marker of choice for population genetic
studies at intermediate spatial and temporal scales. Developing large
numbers of markers has traditionally been technically difficult and this
has limited our ability to investigate evolutionary phenomena that emerge
across short temporal scales. Moreover, few markers tend to successfully
amplify across species boundaries. As rapid advancements in
high-throughput sequencing make microsatellite development cost and
time-effective, new avenues for evolutionary, population genetic, and
chromosome linkage mapping research are emerging. We used a published PERL
script and second-generation sequencing to rapidly and affordably develop
microsatellite loci for a widespread phyllostomid bat, Artibeus lituratus,
for which no markers were previously available. We used Roche FLX
(Titanium) Genome Sequencing to randomly sequence ~101 Mb (255,065 unique
reads) of genomic DNA for A. lituratus, within which we discovered 30100
microsatellite loci. We designed primers for 19395 loci that contained
suitable flanking regions. We ordered primers for 96 loci, 90 of which
produced a single PCR product in A. lituratus. We genotyped 52 loci, and
45 were polymorphic in A. lituratus. We tested cross-species amplification
for 96 loci in six additional phyllostomid species: A. planirostris, A.
fimbriatus, A. phaeotis, Enchisthenes hartii, Sturnira lilium, and
Carollia perspicillata. Cross-species amplification was successful for at
least one species for 87 loci (A. fimbriatus), and in all species at least
66 loci amplified. These markers will facilitate future work on these
seven species, but also illustrate the utility of this high-throughput
method for development of primers across many species simultaneously.