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Thirty-three microsatellite loci for noninvasive genetic studies of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

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Abstract

Limited microsatellite markers useable in noninvasive genetic methods have hampered the studies of dispersal patterns and mating systems of giant pandas. Therefore, we describe in this paper the characterization of 15 novel microsatellite loci from genomic DNA-enriched libraries and 18 redesigned microsatellite loci from published papers on the giant panda. The number of alleles per locus in 60 individuals ranged from 2 to 13, the average observed heterozygosity per locus from 0.168 to 0.800, and the average expected heterozygosity per locus from 0.152 to 0.882. All loci followed Hardy-Weinberg expectations. Four pairs of significant linkage association were found among all these loci. Moreover, the 33 microsatellite loci showed high amplification successes rate in noninvasive samples, which indicated that these loci will be of use in studying dispersal patterns and mating systems of giant pandas using noninvasive genetic methods.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by projects of the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2007CB411600), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30620130432, 30670329 and 30770319) and CAS 100 Talent Programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Hua Wu, Xiang-Jiang Zhan, Ze-Jun Zhang, Li-Feng Zhu, Li Yan, Ming Li & Fu-Wen Wei

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  1. Hua Wu
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  2. Xiang-Jiang Zhan
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  3. Ze-Jun Zhang
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  4. Li-Feng Zhu
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  5. Li Yan
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  6. Ming Li
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  7. Fu-Wen Wei
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Correspondence to Fu-Wen Wei.

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Wu, H., Zhan, XJ., Zhang, ZJ. et al. Thirty-three microsatellite loci for noninvasive genetic studies of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Conserv Genet 10, 649–652 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-008-9599-9

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