Eight polymorphic microsatellite loci for bottlenose dolphin and other cetacean species

• Published in: Molecular Ecology Notes
• Main Authors: Caldwell, Marthajane, Gaines, Michael S., Hughes, Colin R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2002
• Subjects: Delphinapterus leucas; Northwest Atlantic; Orca; Orcinus orca
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1471-8286.2002.00270.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1471-8286.2002.00270.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1471-8286.2002.00270.x

Abstract We developed eight polymorphic microsatellite loci that can be used to elucidate population structure and aid management of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus , in the northwest Atlantic. These loci averaged nine alleles, with no evidence for null alleles. Their cross‐species utility was examined in Cephalorhynchus commersonii , Delphinus delphis , Delphinapterus leucas , Eschrictius robustus , Globicephala macrorhynchus , Lagenorhynchus obliquidens , Orcinus orca , Steno bredanensis and Stenella clymene . On average, 75% of the loci were polymorphic in these species (range = 50–88%). Our results indicate that these loci will be useful for elucidating population structure of bottlenose dolphin as well as of other cetacean species.