Polymorphic microsatellite loci isolated from humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae and fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus

Abstract:

In conservation genetics, it is becoming increasingly clear that parameters derived over evolutionary time scales may not apply to much shorter ecological timescales (Palsbøll 1999). Molecular genetic methods can be employed to estimate parameters on an ecological timescale if the focus is aimed only at recently diverged lineages, i.e., among individuals as opposed to among populations. These extensions of current approaches are vital to align the application of molecular genetics to contemporary issues in conservation. In order to estimate the degree of kinship in a reliable manner, an adequate number of loci must be analyzed per individual. Ensuring an adequate number of loci decreases/eliminates the interference of other levels of relatives, and compensates for the exponential increase in the number of pair-wise comparisons when the sample size increases. Towards this end, we presented, in this note, an additional 17 polymorphic microsatellite loci, which, originated from a di-, tri- and tetra-nucleotide microsatellite loci enriched library constructed from humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, and fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus, genomic DNA, using the protocol previously described in Palsbøll et al. (1997) and Be´rube´ et al. (2000).

Bérubé, M., M. Rew, H. Skaug, H. Jørgensen, J. Robbins, R. Sears, and P. Palsbøll. 2005. Polymorphic microsatellite loci isolated from humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae and fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus. Conservation Genetics. 6(4): 631-636.
Polymorphic microsatellite loci isolated from humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae and fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus PDF (192 KB)