Senior Year Research Project: Developing Microsatellite Markers for the North American Porcupine

Microsatellite markers are dinucleotide repeats located in the noncoding regions of nuclear DNA. They are known as neutral markers because there is no selection on noncoding DNA sequences, and they are highly heritable by offspring. They can undergo mutations that either make the sequences longer or shorter, and these mutations occur at a quantifiable rate, making it possible to trace how far back a mutation may have occurred. These characteristics make microsatellite markers a very useful tool in population genetics, and they can be used to assess paternity, inbreeding, and gene flow in and out of a population. In my project, I designed and tested 12 primers for amplifying microsatellite loci. Seven of the twelve loci were amplified in PCR reactions, and will be assessed for polymorphism and then used to genotype porcupines located within the St. Lawrence University Kip Tract. Determining the relationship of each porcupine to others within the population will provide information about paternity and possibly breeding habits. Road mortalities may be having an effect on the genetic structure of the Kip Tract population, and one of the goals of this project was to assess the amount of genetic diversity within the population. Eventually, the development of porcupine microsatellite markers will allow populations in the Northeast to be genotyped and compared to one another, and their genetic information will be available to the scientific community.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• North
• American
• Porcupine