Journal article
Development and optimisation of molecular assays for microsatellite genotyping and molecular sexing of non-invasive samples of the ghost bat, Macroderma gigas
Molecular Biology Reports, Vol.47, pp.5635-5641
2020
Abstract
The ghost bat (Macroderma gigas) is endemic to Australia but is under threat, with scarce information available on the genetic health of remaining populations. Here, we develop molecular assays for microsatellite genotyping and molecular sexing of non-invasive samples as a genetic monitoring tool to identify individuals, measure genetic diversity and investigate spatial and temporal patterns of habitat use by ghost bats. We identified novel microsatellites through high-throughput sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq platform. Of 48 loci tested, six markers were added to five previously developed microsatellite loci. We developed three Y-linked (DDX3Y, Zfy and SRY) and one X-linked markers (Zfx) to enable molecular identification of sex. To assess performance, all 11 microsatellite and four sex-linked markers were amplified in three multiplex reactions in 160 M. gigas faecal samples from the Pilbara region, Western Australia. The combined markers offered a high level of individual discrimination (PIDsibs = 0.00002) and we detected 19 bats in total (11 males, 4 females and 4 sex undetermined). The number of alleles per locus ranged from 5 to 14 and the average observed and expected heterozygosity across loci were Ho = 0.735 (0.58–0.91) and uHe = 0.785 (0.59–0.89) respectively. Our molecular assays allowed identification of individuals from faecal samples at multiple time points and spatial locations and enabled us to elucidate patterns of habitat usage at the study site. This study highlights the value of our molecular assays as a potential capture-mark-recapture technique for population monitoring for this species.
Details
- Title
- Development and optimisation of molecular assays for microsatellite genotyping and molecular sexing of non-invasive samples of the ghost bat, Macroderma gigas
- Authors/Creators
- K. Ottewell (Author/Creator) - Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and AttractionsR. Thavornkanlapachai (Author/Creator) - Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and AttractionsS. McArthur (Author/Creator) - Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and AttractionsP.B.S. Spencer (Author/Creator)J. Tedeschi (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityB. Durrant (Author/Creator) - Biologic Environmental Survey, 24 Wickham Street, East Perth, WA, 6004, Australia.C. Knuckey (Author/Creator) - Biologic Environmental Survey, 24 Wickham Street, East Perth, WA, 6004, Australia.K. Armstrong (Author/Creator) - The University of AdelaideM. Byrne (Author/Creator) - Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
- Publication Details
- Molecular Biology Reports, Vol.47, pp.5635-5641
- Publisher
- Springer
- Identifiers
- 991005540774507891
- Copyright
- © 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Environmental and Conservation Sciences
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.64 Phylogenetics & Genomics
- 3.64.71 Genetic Diversity
- Web Of Science research areas
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- ESI research areas
- Molecular Biology & Genetics