| | Accession Number | 5004797 |
| | Title | Assessing the genetic status of Whooping Cranes with AFLP |
| | Project Description | The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service bears full responsibility for the preservation of the whooping |
| | crane and the long-term maintenance of the captive populations in the United States. We need to |
| | know the extant genetic diversity and individual relatedness within the captive whooping crane |
| | populations to adequately manage the captive population and to establish viable wild populations. |
| | The Aransas-Wood Buffalo whooping crane population declined to 15 birds in 1941, the only viable |
| | population in the wild today. Although less than in 1940, the extant genetic diversity in the worlds |
| | whooping crane population is unknown. Studies of genetic diversity in Whooping Cranes to date |
| | have not provided sufficient information to assure long term viability of the species. A newly |
| | developed (and patented) technique Amplified or Anonymous Fragment Length Polymorphism |
| | (AFLP) can provide a robust estimate of diversity. This approach has two major advantages; one is |
| | that a very large number of polymorphisms should be found, and the other is that the startup is |
| | much simpler and less expensive than that of previous approaches. The AFLP technique provides |
| | a better estimate of diversity because it looks at a much broader segment of the nuclear genome |
| | than any of the above techniques. This technique can produce thousands of DNA segments so |
| | adequate polymorphisms to characterize diversity in the cranes should be found. The study will |
| | include samples from other crane populations with robust populations and those of reduced |
| | diversity. A comparison of crane species will give us a better understanding of crane diversity and |
| | the relative state of genetic diversity in the whooping crane. Blood from crane species with robust |
| | populations and those of reduced diversity will be collected and used to prepare DNA. The DNA |
| | will be examined by AFLP for polymorphisms. This will entail determining appropriate reagents |
| | and conditions for 1) endonuclease cleavage of crane DNA, 2) selective PCR of the resulting DNA |
| | pieces, and 3) separation to locate the polymorphisms. The polymorphic DNA segments will be |
| | collected and sequenced. Probes for these polymorphisms will be prepared (via contract) and |
| | used to determined relatedness in Whooping Cranes. We are estimating that between 10 and 50 |
| | will be required. After this determination is made the selected DNA segments will be sequenced |
| | and probes for these segments will be prepared (part 2). After the probes are available they will be |
| | utilized to analyze the genetic diversity of all captive Whooping Cranes and of the wild Whooping |
| | Cranes for which samples become available (part 3). These probes should be applicable to all |
| | crane species. Although the use of the AFLP technique requires the use of DNA of the species of |
| | interest without contamination by other DNA (we will utilize crane blood), once the probes are |
| | developed we will apply them to other samples such as feathers and droppings. |
| | Keywords | aflp, cranes, genetics, polymorphisms, recovery, restoration, whooping cranes, |
| | Principal | Melancon M J., USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: mark_melancon@usgs.gov; Gee G F., |
| | Investigators | Patusent Wildlife Research Center: george_gee@usgs.gov; |
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