Date of Award
9-1-2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Biology, MS
First Advisor
Carole Cramer
Committee Members
Thomas Risch; Travis Marsico
Call Number
LD251 .A566t 2011 S72
Abstract
Polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers were developed and characterized for the western slimy salamander (Plethodon albagula). Salamanders from the Spillway Mine in Garland County, Arkansas were sampled for DNA and a microsatellite-enriched library was created for this species. The library yielded 1654 sequences from which 142 candidate loci containing simple tandem repeats were identified; 28 polymerase chain reaction primer pairs representing 28 candidate loci were tested in this study and eight were selected for development based on robust amplification and polymorphism in PCR-based analysis of P. albagula population samples. Of these eight loci, six were determined to be unlinked in a population sample from the Spillway Mine (n=22). One locus was found to be in Hardy/Weinberg disequilibrium. These loci showed high variability with 3-16 alleles per locus and heterozygosities ranging from 0.22-1.0. The utility of these loci was also demonstrated in other populations across the species' range in Arkansas as well as in five congeners endemic to the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma. These loci and others developed in the future from the abundance of data generated in this study may be used as valuable tools in assessing many aspects of these species' biology.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Stephens, Nathan Thomas, "Development of Novel Microsatellite Markers for High-resolution Genetic Analysis of the Western Slimy Salamander (Plethodon albagula)" (2011). Student Theses and Dissertations. 950.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/950
