Skip to main content
Log in

A novel multiplex PCR assay for species identification in the Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes) and Little Egret (E. garzetta)

  • Technical Note
  • Published:
Conservation Genetics Resources Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A multiplex PCR assay is described herein for the species identification of juvenile egrets, Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes) and Little Egret (E. garzetta), which colonially breed in a heronary and share similar exterior characteristics. In this new assay, the primers were designed to yield to a 101 bp positive control amplicon of partial ND6 and tRNAGlu gene, and the species-specific primers were designed for species identification in E. eulophotes and E. garzetta (partial ND6 and Control Region gene, about 278 and 302 bp, respectively). Using simple agarose gel electrophoresis the PCR products discriminates the two species unambiguously indicated that our new assay could be used for accurate and convenient species identification in E. eulophotes and E. garzetta.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

References

  • BirdLife International (2010) Species factsheet: Egretta eulophotes. http://www.birdlife.org. Accessed 16 Oct

  • Dubey B, Meganathan PR, Haque I (2009) Multiplex PCR assay for rapid identification of three endangered snake species of India. Conserv Genet 10:1861–1864. doi:10.1007/s10592-009-9835-y

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang XH, Zhou XP, Chen M, Fang WZ, Chen XL (2010) Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in vulnerable Chinese egret (Egretta eulophotes: Aves). Conserv Genet 11:1211–1214. doi:10.1007/s10592-009-9921-1

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • IUCN (2010) IUCN Red list of threatened species. http://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed 28 May

  • McGreevy TJ, Dabek L, Husband TP (2010) A multiplex PCR assay to distinguish among three sympatric marsupial taxa from Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, using the mitochondrial control region. Mol Ecol Resour 10:397–400. doi:10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02758.x

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mendonca FF, Hashimoto DT, De-Franco B, Porto-Foresti F, Gadig OBF, Oliveira C, Foresti F (2010) Genetic identification of lamniform and carcharhiniform sharks using multiplex-PCR. Conservation Genet Resour 2:31–35. doi:10.1007/s12686-009-9131-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson JD, Gibson TJ, Plewniak F, Jeanmougin F, Higgins DG (1997) The CLUSTAL_X windows interface: flexible strategies for multiple sequence alignment aided by quality analysis tools. Nucleic Acids Res 25:4876–4882

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Z, Zhou XP, Lin QX, Fang WZ, Chen XL (2010) New primers for sex identification in the Chinese Egret and other ardeid species. Mol Ecol Resour. doi:10.1111/j.1755-0998.2010.02879.x

  • Zhou XP, Wang YQ, Chen XL, Lin QX, Fang WZ, Wei D (2008) A set of primer pairs for amplifying the complete mitochondrial DNA of endangered Chinese egret (Aves, Ardeidae, Egretta eulophotes). Mol Ecol Resour 8:412–414. doi:10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.01975.x

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou XP, Fang WZ, Chen XL (2010) Mitochondrial DNA diversity of the vulnerable Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes) from China. J Ornithol 151:409–414. doi:10.1007/s10336-009-0470-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 30970380, 31000621, 31000963, 40876077 and J1030626) and by the Fujian or Henan Natural Science Foundation of China (2010Y2007, 2010J05084, 2009J01195 and 102102110180).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wenzhen Fang or Xiaolin Chen.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOC 36 kb)

Supplementary material 2 (DOC 92 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Huang, X., Zhou, X., Lin, Q. et al. A novel multiplex PCR assay for species identification in the Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes) and Little Egret (E. garzetta). Conservation Genet Resour 4, 31–33 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-011-9466-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-011-9466-8

Keywords

Navigation