Abstract
We evaluate the applicability of the microsatellite multiplex assay of 11 short tandem repeat loci for individual identification of sable and pine marten, taxonomic identification of Martes species, and assessment of inter-population separation of sable populations isolated by distance. Based on the screening, we detected 50 and 80–82 alleles in pine marten and two sable populations, respectively. All 11 microsatellite markers of the proposed PCR assay were characterized by the same range of allele length in the two Marten species, which makes species identification unfeasible using any of the loci alone. However, the combination of all 11 loci differentiated sables and pine martens, and more importantly provided the opportunity to identify their hybrids in the sympatry range zone. Using the proposed microsatellite assay, we successfully identified geographic origin of most genotyped sable individuals.
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Acknowledgments
The examined tissue samples of Martes martes belong to the collections of the Museum at the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology (Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences).
Funding
Animal genotyping and sample collection were supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 17-04-00759) and by the State Contract of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, UB RAS.
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Modorov, M., Monakhov, V., Mikryukov, V. et al. Microsatellite multiplex assay for sable (Martes zibellina) and pine marten (Martes martes). Mamm Res 65, 855–862 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-020-00529-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-020-00529-4