Use of genetic data for conservation management: the case of the Arabian oryx

Abstract

In this study we investigate some applications of genetic markers in animal conservation, using the Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) as an example. Out of 66 sets of microsatellite primers from other ruminants, 58% were found to amplify microsatellites in Arabian oryx. Polymorphism (50% of loci amplified) and allelic diversity (mean 2.1 alleles/locus amplified) were within the range found in other ruminants. Arabian oryx (n = 343) representing most of the major groups world-wide were typed at six loci. Low but significant population differentiation was found between most oryx groups, suggesting that management of Arabian oryx has led to substantial genetic mixing between populations. Forty percent of the alleles in one additional Arabian oryx sample from the pre-extinction population in Oman were not found in any contemporary Arabian oryx, and two out of four contemporary populations were deficient in rare alleles, suggesting that the species has lost some neutral genetic variation. The microsatellite loci were sufficiently polymorphic for identification of an Arabian oryx sample in a forensic context, but were not sufficiently polymorphic for large-scale parentage inference. We suggest that it is important to evaluate whether genetic markers are likely to have sufficient power to answer particular conservation questions prior to committing conservation resources to genetic typing. Key: , lineage well represented; , lineage poorly represented (e.g. via single reproducing individual); ✘, lineage absent. Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Hamdan lineages are private collections in the United Arab Emirates.

Application of mitochondrial genes sequences for measuring the genetic diversity of Arabian oryx

“…However, in a recent study, we have observed some rare alleles (genotypes) in Arabian oryx population using microsatellite markers (Arif et al, 2010). Marshall et al (1999) have also reported deficiencies of rare alleles in two of the four contemporary populations of Arabian oryx. The phenotypic characteristic (e.g.…”

An investigation of inbreeding depression and purging in captive pedigreed populations

“…However, previous molecular studies have found errors in studbooks (e.g. Waldrapp ibis (Signer et al, 1994), Bali starling (Ashworth and Parkin, 1992) and Arabian oryx (Marshall et al, 1999)) meaning that it is probable that some of the pedigrees analysed here contained errors.…”

Measuring the genetic diversity of Arabian Oryx using microsatellite markers: implication for captive breeding

“…The two groups of investigators have used the same set of 6 microsatellite loci, 5 of them specific to sheep and 1 to cattle, for measuring the molecular diversity of Arabian oryx (Marshall et al 1999) and scimitar-horned oryx (Iyengar et al 2007). In the present study, we have applied 7 microsatellite markers, one of them (RBP3) is common to the previous studies on oryx (Marshall et al, 1999;Iyengar et al, 2007) whereas the remaining 6 loci have recently been utilized for measuring the genetic diversity of Tibetan antelope (Zhou et al, 2007). None of the loci in our study showed significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (Table 2).…”