Genetic diversity and population structure of the Korean field mouse(Apodumus peninsulae) in South Korea: from 17 previously and newly developed microsatellite markers

To provide more reliable genetic information on species and minimize experimental errors, biologists increase the number of genetic markers available and then carefully select optimal markers from a large candidate pool. We developed nine novel microsatellite markers from the Korean field mouse (Apodemus peninsulae), which is one of the most dominant forest animals in South Korea. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities across nine markers were 0.65 and 0.73, respectively, with an average polymorphic information content of 0.70. Using 17 microsatellite markers (nine polymorphic markers in this study, in combination with eight previously reported for the species), we conducted genetic analysis on the animals from six sampling locations. These locations are divided into the eastern (EAST) and the western (WEST) sides of the Taebaek mountain ranges in South Korea. Genetic diversity was high at both groups, with the mean expected heterozygosity of 0.77 in EAST and 0.78 in WEST. However, we did not observe strong evidence of genetic divergence between two groups. Future genetic research with more samples incorporating ecological study may clarify population structure in the species and the hypothesis of the mountains discontinuity of gene flow.