Molecular Ecology Notes (2006) 6, 349–352 doi: 10.1111/j.1471-8286.2005.01228.x © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Blackwell Publishing Ltd PRIMER NOTE Ten polymorphic microsatellite loci for the endangered Buena Vista Lake shrew (Sorex ornatus relictus) JESÚS E. MALDONADO,*† JENNIFER LEONARD,*† GUSTAVO A. MIRANDA,‡§ JORGE ORTEGA,†¶ ROBERT K. WAYNE* and RENATO J. AGUILERA‡** * Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1606, USA, † Genetics Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 3001 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington DC 20008, USA, ‡ Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA, § David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1740, USA, ¶ Laboratorio de Macroecología, Instituto de Ecología, UNAM, 04510, México, DF, Mexico, ** Department of Biological Science, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968-0519, USA Abstract The ornate shrew (Sorex ornatus) is restricted to the vanishing wetlands of California, USA and Baja California, Mexico. Several subspecies of ornate shrews are considered ‘mammal species of special concern’ in California by the Department of Fish and Game, and one (Sorex ornatus relictus) has recently been listed as endangered. Populations of shrews around Buena Vista Lake have been diminished or extirpated due to habitat deterioration and human development. In order to study the patterns of genetic variation in isolated populations of Buena Vista Lake shrews, we developed 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci. There were 6 – 27 alleles per locus, and the loci had heterozygosity values that ranged from 20 to 80%. In addition, we screened 20 different populations of S. ornatus, eight species within two subfamilies of shrews (Soricinae and Crocidurinae), as well as in a mole (Talpidae, Neurotrichus gibbsii), to determine if these loci could be informative in other species as well. Keywords: microsatellite, ornate shrew, primer, Sorex ornatus relictus, Soricidae Received 15 September 2005; revision received 5 October 2005; accepted 26 October 2005 Shrews are members of a primitive order of mammals, the Insectivora. Shrews also comprise a significant portion of mammalian species (about 1/3) and are distributed worldwide, excluding Australia, Antarctica and southern South America. Despite this wide distribution, little is known about patterns of differentiation, movements and gene flow in shrews. In this note, we describe microsatellite markers in the Buena Vista Lake shrew ( Sorex ornatus relictus ), which will be used to enhance the resolving power of our data for understanding their historical population structure . Sorex o. relictus once occupied the marshlands of the San Joaquin Valley throughout the Tulare Basin. However, it is now thought that their range has been restricted because of the disappearance of wetlands (Maldonado et al . 2001). Genomic DNA was isolated from tissue samples from liver by overnight digestion with Proteinase K in a diges- tion buffer containing 1 × TNE and 10% SDS (New England Biolabs), followed by extraction with phenol/chloroform/ iso-amyl alcohol and ethanol precipitation to yield a final concentration of 1 μ g/ μ L (Sambrook et al . 1989). Approxi- mately 20 μ g of genomic DNA from several individuals was digested to completion with the restriction enzyme Sau 3A 1 (New England Biolabs). The digestion product was electrophoresed on a 1% agarose gel, and the frag- ments from 300 to 600 bp were size selected by excising the piece of agarose containing these fragment lengths and eluting the DNA. Size-selected fragments were then ligated into the Lambda Zap phagemid vector (Strat- agene) cut with Bam HI restriction enzyme (New England Biolabs) and the vector arms incubated with calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase (New England Biolabs). The ligated products were packaged using a Gigapack II Gold packaging extract (Stratagene), and the library was amplified Correspondence: Jorge Ortega, Aug 11th, 2005. Fax: +(55) 56- 16-1976; E-mail: artibeus2@aol.com