We report on 53 microsatellite loci for use in population genetic or linkage mapping studies in Cryphonectria parasitica. In 40 isolates collected from throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the number of alleles per locus ranged from two to 14 (mean 5.17) with gene diversity values ranging from 0.049 to 0.859 (mean 0.437). Samples from Asia were more diverse than those from Europe and North America. Most of the markers (48 of 53) were developed from an expressed sequence tag library, and hence, offer the opportunity to examine population structure or provide genome location information for specific expressed genes vs. anonymous genomic regions