Biology Faculty Articles
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2002
Publication Title
Genome Research
ISSN
1088-9051
Volume
12
Issue/No.
3
First Page
414
Last Page
423
Abstract
Nuclear microsatellite loci (2- to 5-bp tandem repeats) would seem to be ideal markers for population genetic monitoring because of their abundant polymorphism, wide dispersal in vertebrate genomes, near selective neutrality, and ease of assessment; however, questions about their mode of generation, mutation rates and ascertainment bias have limited interpretation considerably. We have assessed the patterns of genomic diversity for ninety feline microsatellite loci among previously characterized populations of cheetahs, lions and pumas in recapitulating demographic history. The results imply that the microsatellite diversity measures (heterozygosity, allele reconstitution and microsatellite allele variance) offer proportionate indicators, albeit with large variance, of historic population bottlenecks and founder effects. The observed rate of reconstruction of new alleles plus the growth in the breadth of microsatellite allele size (variance) was used here to develop genomic estimates of time intervals following historic founder events in cheetahs (12,000 yr ago), in North American pumas (10,000–17,000 yr ago), and in Asiatic lions of the Gir Forest (1000–4000 yr ago).
NSUWorks Citation
Driscoll, Carlos A.; Marilyn Menotti-Raymond; George Nelson; David Goldstein; and Stephen J. O'Brien. 2002. "Genomic Microsatellites as Evolutionary Chronometers: A Test in Wild Cats." Genome Research 12, (3): 414-423. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_bio_facarticles/796
ORCID ID
0000-0001-7353-8301
ResearcherID
N-1726-2015
Comments
©2002 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press