Polymorphic microsatellite loci for the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and some remarks on their isolation

Five polymorphic tri- and tetranucleotide microsatellite loci suitable for population genetic analysis were identified in the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera from two partial phagemid genomic libraries enriched for microsatellite inserts. The overall microsatellite-cloning efficiency in H. armigera is 2.5%, which is approximately eightfold lower than that for the gadoid fishes (20%) employing the same enrichment protocol, supporting the notion of a relative low frequency of microsatellite sequences in lepidopteran genomes. In addition, a large proportion of cloned microsatellite sequences turned out to be repetitive DNA, thus further increasing the difficulty of developing such markers in butterflies and moths.