Population Genetic Analysis of Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes ) in Hedmark Country, Norway - A Pilot Study
Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Ecological and environmental studies commonly depended on the knowledge of genetic\nvariation among individuals within a population and most of the population studies were\ncarried out using genetic markers. In this thesis, individuals of Vulpes vulpes species were\ngenotyped using microsatellite markers to study their population diversity. DNAs were\nisolated successfully from the muscle tissues of 33 individuals and in some cases, from the\nhair and scat of the foxes. Twenty microsatellite primers with 1 sex chromosome marker\nwere successfully designed using MP primer downloaded program out of which 16 primers\namplified the DNA template samples successfully. The Amplicons were successfully\ngenotyped and checked for genotyping errors. The LOSITAN program identified two of the\nmarkers to be under selection and the Micro-Checker program adjusted the alleles, which\nwere identified as ‘null’ alleles. The analysis was performed on three different types of data:\noriginal genotype data, adjusted genotype data with the null allele markers and genotype\ndata without the null allele markers. The marker under balanced selection was also added to\nverify its effect on the study. The STRUCTURE program assembled the individuals into\ndifferent clusters. The Arlequin program estimated that the individuals grouped using\noriginal genotype data proved genetically variable, whereas individuals grouped using\nadjusted null alleles did not show any significant variance. Original genotype data looks\npromising as the loci were not significantly in Linkage Disequilibrium but this can be\njustified by increasing the number of individuals for the study. Analysis using genotypic\ndata without null allele markers did not vary from the analysis using original genotypic\ndata. Addition of marker under balanced selection showed significant Linkage\ndisequilibrium in the study of all the three types of data. Relationship between the\nindividuals showed that many individuals were half- siblings and 4 of them were full\nsiblings.
Author: Aarathi Manivannan
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2472411576