Efficiency of Fluorescent Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCRs) for Rapid Genotyping of Harbour Porpoises (<I>Phocoena phocoena</I>) with 11 Microsatellite Loci

Abstract

We developed two multiplex sets (PPH1 and PPH2) to amplify 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci previously used in harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) studies with only four polymerase chain reactions (PCRs). PPH1 allows for the amplification of six loci at once, and PPH2 requires three PCR reactions to amplify five loci. These two multiplex sets were tested on 100 animals from the Belgian coast and the Black Sea. They provided a rapid and efficient genotyping procedure for large-scale population genetic studies.