Genetic Variation in Captive Herd of Arabian Oryx Using RAPD and ISSR Markers

Abstract

According to the international taxonomy of IUCN, the Arabian Oryx (Oryx leucoryx) is considered to be in endangered and included among the animals that may be extinct. Saudi Arabia began an important project of captive breeding of this species in 1986 at the National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC). Therefore, the current captive population of Saudi Arabian Oryx at NWRC may suffer from inbreeding depression due to the population of small sizes. The genetic variation among 10 Arabian Oryx animals was studied using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The animals were chosen as a representative sample of NWRC current herd. The objectives of this study were: (1) Establishment of RAPD and ISSR marker sets for the genetic characterization of Saudi Arabian Oryx and (2) application of the RAPD and ISSR markers for the identification and estimation of the genetic variation among the 10 Arabian Oryx animals. The results of the RAPD and ISSR primers used in this study confirmed that there was no sex specificity for any of them. 20 random primers were used for the RAPD experiment that generated 118 fragments with 93.5% polymorphism (110 fragments). Also, 12 ISSR primers were used to detect the polymorphism level among the 10 animals of Arabian Oryx. These primers generated 89 fragments and the number of polymorphic fragment was 65 (71.5%). At the same time, they showed average heterozygosity (variability measurement) of 0.24 among the 89 ISSR loci. The result of the genetic variation of RAPD and ISSR indicated a high level of variation among the 10 genotypes as a representative sample of the animals from the germplasm of NWRC. Finally, it can be recommended that the amount of variations among the NWRC germplasm is enough for selection and breeding improvement without affecting the genetic diversity within the captive herd. Key words: Arabian Oryx, captive herd, National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC),random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR), genetic diversity, Saudi Arabia.