Sejtmagi és mitokondriális genetikai markerek tesztelése hazai muflonokban (Ovis aries musimon)

Abstract

Background: The European mouflon (Ovis aries musimon) boasts a population of almost 13,000 in Hungary and holds significant value in game management due to its game meat and horn trophies. Since there is no data on genetic investiga- tions of the mouflons in this region, the authors initiated this survey to test the usability of various markers. Objectives: The authors aim to evaluate cross-specific (Cevidae) tetranucleotide microsatellite markers capable of monitoring diversity and individual identifica- tion. Additionally, they plan to assess maternal lineage diversity based on the mitochondrial control region sequence. Materials and Methods: In this preliminary study, the authors examined ten mouflon individuals from the Pilis mountain region. The tested 80 tetranucleotide microsatellites originating from the suborder Ruminantia. Published PCR protocols were available for all markers in the original species, which were adapted and opti- mized for mouflon samples. Subsequently, these PCR fragments were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis, and polymorphic markers were identified. Regarding the mitochondrial marker, the sequence of almost the entire control region was determined using the Sanger method using primers previously described in sheep. Results and Discussion: Only 20 microsatellite markers provided PCR products of sufficient quality and quantity, resulting in the detection of three polymor- phic markers with two alleles each. Regarding the mitochondrial control region, only one haplotype was identified. Our pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of cross-species markers and their primers in mouflon. Consistent with other international research on the species, our results suggest a potential low genetic variation in the Hungarian population, likely due to a genetic bottleneck, founder effect, and inbreeding. Given the limited number of polymorphic markers and allele polymorphism, the current set should be supplemented with more poly- morphic markers from closely related species, and testing of mouflon samples from different regions is important.