Development and characterization of microsatellite markers in the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis).

ABSTRACT:

Background

African elephants comprise two species, the savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the forest elephant (L. cyclotis), which are distinct morphologically and genetically. Forest elephants are seriously threatened by poaching for meat and ivory, and by habitat destruction. However, microsatellite markers have thus far been developed only in African savanna elephants and Asian elephants, Elephas maximus. The application of microsatellite markers across deeply divergent lineages may produce irregular patterns such as large indels or null alleles. Thus we developed novel microsatellite markers using DNA from two African forest elephants.

Findings

One hundred microsatellite loci were identified in next generation shotgun sequences from two African forest elephants, o

SUBMITTER: Gugala NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4960834 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature