Development of a set of SNP markers for population genetics of the sea peach ( Halocynthia papillosa )

A set of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers was developed from the transcriptome of the solitary ascidian Halocynthia papillosa . 1399 putative SNPs with coverage larger than 100 reads were identified, and a selected set of 320 SNPs was tested using a MassARRAY System on 95 samples from the NW Mediterranean. A total of 175 SNPs were successfully genotyped, polymorphic and in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium over all samples, with significant linkage desequilibrium in only 8 pairs of SNPs. The newly developed loci will be a valuable tool for population genetics studies of this endemic ascidian species of the Mediterranean Sea.