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Microsatellite markers for the endangered franciscana dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei)

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Abstract

The franciscana (Pontoporia blainvillei) is the most threatened small cetacean in the South Atlantic. In this study we report the development of 13 microsatellite markers for franciscanas through next-generation sequencing, and the characterization of those loci in 38 samples from the species’ northernmost population (Espírito Santo, Brazil). Besides providing diversity indices for the new, specific loci, we also report on the transferability of heterologous loci which had not been screened in franciscanas before, and review all loci used in previous studies. Expected heterozygosity in the new loci ranged between 0.107 and 0.595, and all but one were in Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium. These are the first microsatellite loci isolated from franciscanas, and they are an important addition to heterologous markers that were available previously.

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Data availability

Nucleotide sequences from which microsatellite primers were designed were deposited in GenBank (Accession codes MW456658 to MW456670). All other information is provided in the text.

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Acknowledgements

This study was part of Projeto Conservação da Toninha na Área de Manejo I (Franciscana Management Area I—FMA I) and was partially funded with resources from a Term of Adjustment of Conduct signed by Chevron Brasil and the Ministério Público Federal and managed by Fundo Brasileiro para a Biodiversidade—Funbio (Contract 81/2016). Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa no Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) granted scholarships to HAC and LCA, and Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) granted a fellowship to HAC (Visiting Lecturer Program).

Funding

This study was part of Projeto Conservação da Toninha na Área de Manejo I (Franciscana Management Area I—FMA I) and was partially funded with resources from a Term of Adjustment of Conduct signed by Chevron Brasil and the Ministério Público Federal and managed by Fundo Brasileiro para a Biodiversidade – Funbio (Contract 81/2016).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Mamíferos Aquáticos e Bioindicadores, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Haydée A. Cunha

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Biologia Evolutiva, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Teresa E. C. dos Santos & Luísa C. Alvarenga

  3. Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Nathalia P. Cavaleiro

  4. Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica, Petrópolis, Brazil

    Nathalia P. Cavaleiro

  5. Universidade da Região de Joinville, São Francisco do Sul, Brazil

    Marta J. Cremer

  6. Instituto Baleia Jubarte, Caravelas, Brazil

    Adriana Colósio

  7. Organização Consciência Ambiental, Vila Velha, Brazil

    Lupércio A. Barbosa

  8. Laboratório de Biodiversidade Genômica, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Cristiano Lazoski

Authors
  1. Haydée A. Cunha
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  2. Teresa E. C. dos Santos
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  3. Luísa C. Alvarenga
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  4. Nathalia P. Cavaleiro
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  5. Marta J. Cremer
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  6. Adriana Colósio
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  7. Lupércio A. Barbosa
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  8. Cristiano Lazoski
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Contributions

Conceptualization: HAC; sample collection: AC, LA, MJC; data collection: TECS, LCA; data analyses: NPC, HAC; writing—original draft preparation: HAC; writing—review and editing: all authors; funding acquisition: HAC, CL; resources: CL.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Haydée A. Cunha.

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The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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All authors agreed with the publication of this study in Molecular Biology Reports.

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Cunha, H.A., dos Santos, T.E.C., Alvarenga, L.C. et al. Microsatellite markers for the endangered franciscana dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei). Mol Biol Rep 48, 3011–3016 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06263-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06263-7

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