Utility of several microsatellite markers for the genetic characterisation of three ex situ populations of threatened caprine taxa (&amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Capra aegagrus&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;, &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;C. cylindricornis&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; and &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;C. falconeri&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;)

E Levý,K Svobodová,J Robovský,M Ernst,J Lamka,L Putnová,I Vrtková,R Štohl,J Matoušková

doi:10.5194/aab-58-365-2015

Abstract

Abstract. Caprines belong to the most endangered group of mammals and artiodactyls suffering from many negative human impacts. Fortunately, many of them are protected and managed by national and international legislation and in situ and ex situ conservation actions. Although many microsatellite markers have been developed for wild and domestic caprines, they remain uninvestigated in respect of their utility for some taxa. We examined the utility of the International Society for Animal Genetics microsatellite set for genetic characterisations of three wild and one domestic Capra species from captive or semi-captive ex situ populations in Europe. Our data suggest the utility of this microsatellite set for detecting shared and species-specific alleles, characterising the genetic variability, and determining phylogenetic relationships and intraspecific structures in investigated taxa. We detected a depleted genetic variability in Capra falconeri and Capra cylindricornis in European ex situ populations; unrelated individuals are therefore needed for improving genetic variability parameters, as they are for the extralimital population of Capra aegagrus in the Vřísek game reserve (Czech Republic), for which we identified no genetic introgression from the domestic goat and great dissimilarity with some analysed individuals from European zoos. Current results here indicate some difficulties with the historical evidence, for example with respect to the origin and purity of particular individuals under breeding programmes.

Highlights

Caprines (Caprini sensu, Groves and Grubb, 2011) represent a rather evolutionarily young group of bovids, but one that is certainly no less diverse in its morphological, ecological and behavioural features than other groups of ungulates (Groves and Leslie, 2011; Hassanin et al, 2012; Bibi, 2013)
We detected a depleted genetic variability in Capra falconeri and Capra cylindricornis in European ex situ populations; unrelated individuals are needed for improving genetic variability parameters, as they are for the extralimital population of Capra aegagrus in the Vrísek game reserve (Czech Republic), for which we identified no genetic introgression from the domestic goat and great dissimilarity with some analysed individuals from European zoos
We examined the utility of the ISAG (International Society for Animal Genetics) microsatellite set, available primarily for the domestic goat paternity specification, for genetic characterisations of three wild and one domestic Capra species from captive or semi-captive ex situ populations from EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) or private institutions in central Europe – Capra falconeri heptneri, C. cylindricornis, C. aegagrus and C. hircus

Summary

Introduction

Caprines (Caprini sensu, Groves and Grubb, 2011) represent a rather evolutionarily young group of bovids, but one that is certainly no less diverse in its morphological, ecological and behavioural features than other groups of ungulates (Groves and Leslie, 2011; Hassanin et al, 2012; Bibi, 2013). Many of them are protected and managed by national and international legislation and specific in situ and ex situ conservation actions, and genetic markers are increasingly being used for genetic characterisation (e.g. genetic variability parameters, genetic purity) of caprine species and their particular populations We examined the utility of the ISAG (International Society for Animal Genetics) microsatellite set, available primarily for the domestic goat paternity specification, for genetic characterisations of three wild and one domestic Capra species from captive or semi-captive ex situ populations from EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) or private institutions in central Europe – Capra falconeri heptneri, C. cylindricornis, C. aegagrus and C. hircus. This study represents an attempt to analyse the abovementioned taxa in respect of ISAG microsatellite set utility and to assess detected genetic parameters in the conservation management programmes for these taxa

Sample collection

Microsatellite genotyping and analyses

Results and discussion