A New Multilocus Probe for DNA Fingerprinting in Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and Comparisons with a Single-Locus Probe

Abstract

A multilocus DNA probe, B2-2, isolated from chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and a single-locus Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) probe, 3.15.34, were examined for discriminatory ability among seven parents and 33–37 juveniles from five families of chinook salmon. DNA fingerprint patterns were observed in Hae III-digested chinook salmon DNA probed with B2-2. Between 8 and 20 fragments, from 2.20 kilobase pairs (kbp) to 19.0 kbp, were detected in each individual. The level of band sharing among unrelated parents was 0.18. Probe 3.15.34 hybridized with a total of nine DNA fragments, from 3.35 to 6.00 kbp, in the chinook salmon parents and progeny. One or two fragments were detected in each individual. Pedigree analysis confirmed that 3.15.34 detected both alleles of a single polymorphic locus whereas B2-2 detected autosomal, unlinked, predominantly heterozygous DNA fragments that were inherited in a Mendelian fashion at a minimum of 10 polymorphic loci. Among juvenile chinook salmon, levels of band sharing detected with probe B2-2 increased with increasing relatedness, and clustering based on differences in banding patterns distinguished unrelated progeny, half sibs, and full sibs even in the absence of parental genotypic data.