A Selection of 14 Tetrameric Microsatellite Markers for Genetic Investigations in Fallow Deer (Dama dama)

Abstract

The fallow deer (Dama dama) represents significant game management value globally, and human activities are significantly impacting the species. Besides the positive effects, these activities can threaten its existence, health, and value. The aim of the authors was to develop a tetranucleotide microsatellite panel that could be clearly interpreted and used for genetic testing of fallow deer. Such a panel did not exist until now and could be particularly useful in the field of conservation genetics and forensics. A total of 99 tetrameric microsatellites, originally designed for related deer species, were tested on 20 fallow deer individuals from five Hungarian sampling areas. Original and newly designed primers were used to amplify the microsatellite regions using previously published or optimized PCR protocols. The lengths and sequences of specific amplicons were detected using capillary electrophoresis, and the rate of polymorphism was determined. Altogether, 80 markers provided PCR products of adequate quality and quantity. Among them, 15 markers proved to be polymorphic (2-5 alleles/locus), and 14 tetrameric markers were selected for further analysis. Statistical calculations showed that the selected polymorphic microsatellites can potentially enable key individualization in many areas of wildlife and population genetics, thus protecting the species.

Keywords: fallow deer (Dama dama); individual identification; tetrameric microsatellites (tetra-STRs); wildlife and population genetics.

Figure 1

Details of the 99 tetrameric markers chosen on 20 fallow deer samples. Sp: species, Ref: reference of the original article, Prim: primers used (green background: original primers, mod: redesigned primers, new: designed primers), * data derived from 19 samples, ** data derived from 18 samples. . *** primers can be found in the NCBI database, not in the source publication. PCR—  : original PCR protocol, mod: modified PCR protocol,   : did not amplify. Polymorph marker names and their number of alleles are in red. References: 1.: Jones et al., 2000 [21]; 2.: Jones et al., 2001 [22]; 3.: Meredith et al., 2005 [23]; 4.: Brinkman et al., 2010 [24]; 5.: Szabolcsi et al., 2014 [25]; 6.: Caparroz et al., 2015 [26]; 7.: Accession numbers JN643715-JN643722, JN563734-JN563735; 8.: Yang et al., 2018 [27]; 9.: Hill et al., 2021 [28]; 10.: Morf et al., 2021 [29]; 11.: Wolfenson et al., 2022 [30].