DNA sampling from eggshells and microsatellite genotyping in rare tropical birds: Case study on Brazilian Merganser.

Thais Augusta Maia,Luciana Resende Da Silva,Sibelle Torres Vilaça,Fabricio Rodrigues Santos,Gisele Pires De Mendonça Dantas

doi:10.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2016-0297

Abstract

This study shows that sampling maternal DNA from hatched and abandoned eggshells is a viable noninvasive strategy for studying the genetics of rare or endangered tropical birds, as exemplified here by the Brazilian Merganser (Mergus octosetaceus). Eighteen microsatellites were isolated from enriched libraries and nine heterologous loci from related species were tested. Seven loci were amplified successfully, with five of them being polymorphic. These loci exhibited amplicons ranging from 110 to 254 bp for 132 samples, with 60 from eggshells and 72 from blood or muscle samples. The number of alleles for M. octosetaceus ranged from one to six (mean = 3.71), which is low compared to M. merganser (1-15 alleles), a ‘least concern’ species. Genetic diversity did not differ significantly between noninvasive and invasive samples (Z(u) = 0.31, p = 0.37). Thus, noninvasive sampling, as demonstrated here with eggshells, provides an efficient means to assess genetic diversity in tropical birds without the need to capture and handle them.

Highlights

Noninvasive DNA sampling has become an important method for collecting valuable genetic data for the management and conservation of rare and endangered species (Waits and Paetkau, 2005; Beja-Pereira et al, 2009; Egloff et al, 2009)
Some studies have used microsatellites for accessing genetic diversity from noninvasive samples (Presti et al, 2013; Moodley et al, 2015), due to the fact that these markers are widely distributed in the genome, have high levels of polymorphism, and are easy to detect using PCR (Hoshino et al, 2012)
The success of cross-species amplification of microsatellites depends on conservation of flanking regions, the polymorphism level, the phylogenetic relatedness among the species involved, with success being higher in closely related species (Barbará et al, 2007; Presti et al, 2013; Moodley et al, 2015)

Summary

Introduction

Noninvasive DNA sampling has become an important method for collecting valuable genetic data for the management and conservation of rare and endangered species (Waits and Paetkau, 2005; Beja-Pereira et al, 2009; Egloff et al, 2009). Some studies have used microsatellites for accessing genetic diversity from noninvasive samples (Presti et al, 2013; Moodley et al, 2015), due to the fact that these markers are widely distributed in the genome, have high levels of polymorphism, and are easy to detect using PCR (Hoshino et al, 2012). The use of noninvasive samples and polymorphic markers, such as microsatellites, can help to monitor the genetics of rare and endangered species.

Results

Conclusion