Polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers in the grey red-backed vole Clethrionomys rufocanus bedfordiae.

The article discusses polymorphic microsatellite clones from the grey backed vole, Clethrionomys rufocanus bedfordiae, which is a species with frequent population fluctuations. The authors refer to a preliminary study on ten voles with five of ten microsatellites that are polymorphic. The study observed eighty one voles with five microsatellite alleles at loci differing in number of repeat units. The results of the four loci that were used to estimate the heterozygosity suggested that the vole population is subject to random mating. According to the authors, inbreeding linked to a gene subject to assertive mating was not amplified with primers used.