Genetic Diversity of Tendürek Mouflon Population

Genetic diversity is an important factor influencing a population’s capability of long term survival. Studying biodiversity is a basic approach to make suitable decisions to protect the endangered species. For this purpose, 75 biological samples were collected from Tendürek National Park mouflon population. High quality genomic DNA was extracted from blood, meat, hair and bone samples. A set of ten microsatellite loci were selected for analysis of genetic variability. Based on PCR and electrophoresis results, all studied markers were found polymorphic. Across the 10 microsatellite loci, total 61 alleles with an average number of 6.1 allele per locus were detected. The highest number of observed alleles belonged to MAF36 locus (8 allele) and the lowest was for OarFCB304 and OarHH47 loci (5 allele). Mean observed heterozygosity and mean expected heterozygosity were 0.5842 and 0.7849 respectively. Mean Fixation index (FST) in this study was 0.2508. Results revealed that inbreeding in Tendürek mouflon population has increased to dangerously high levels. These findings indicate the reduction of genetic diversity in this population that is so necessary for survival of this species.

Tendürek Müflon Populasyonunun Genetik Çeşitliliği

Genetik çeşitlilik, bir populasyonun uzun süreli hayatta kalma kabiliyetini etkileyen önemli bir faktördür. Biyoçeşitliliğin çalışılması, nesli tükenmekte olan türlerin korunması için uygun kararların alınmasındaki temel yaklaşımdır. Bu amaçla, Tendürek Milli Parkı müflon populasyonundan 75 adet biyolojik örnek toplandı. Kan, et, yapağı ve kemik örneklerinden yüksek nitelikli genomik DNA ekstrakte edildi. Genetik çeşitlilik analizi için 10 mikrosatelit lokusluk bir dizin seçildi. PCR ve elektroforez sonuçlarına göre çalışılan tüm belirteçlerin polimorfik olduğu bulundu. On mikrosatelit lokusu boyunca her bir lokus için ortalama 6,1 alel içeren toplam 61 alel saptandı. Gözlenen en yüksek allel sayısı (8 alel) MAF36 lokusuna; en düşüğü (5 alel) ise OarFCB304 ve OarHH47 lokusuna ait idi. Gözlenen ve beklenen ortalama heterozigosite değerleri sırasıyla 0,5842 ve 0,7849 olarak belirlendi. Çalışmada, ortalama fiksasyon indeksi (FST) 0,2508 idi. Sonuçlara göre Tendürek müflon populasyonunda soy içi eşleşmenin tehlikeli derecede yüksek oranlara ulaştığı gözlendi. Bulgular, türün hayatta kalması için oldukça büyük önem taşıyan genetik çeşitliliğin bu populasyonda azaldığını işaret etmektedir.

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