Background

The small Indian mongoose (Urva auropunctata) is one of the world’s worst invasive alien species and eradication programs are ongoing worldwide. The development of individual and sex identification markers will improve their management.

Methods and results

We searched for novel mongoose microsatellite markers using genome-wide screening and identified 115,265 tetra-nucleotide repeat loci. Of 96 loci tested, 17 were genotyped in 28 mongooses from the Okinawa population. The genetic diversity analysis showed that the average expected and observed heterozygosity and number of alleles were 0.55, 0.56, and 2.94, respectively. Of 17 loci, one deviated from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium and six loci pairs were likely linked to each other. However, we succeed in identifying all individuals using all of the microsatellite loci. The novel sex identification markers worked successfully in a test using sex known samples.

Conclusion

Our novel microsatellite and sex identification markers should be useful in studies of individual identification and population genetics of the mongoose.

中文翻译：

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小印度獴 (Urva auropunctata) 微卫星标记的开发和表征

背景

小型印度猫鼬（Urva auropunctata）是世界上最严重的外来入侵物种之一，全球范围内正在进行根除计划。个体和性别识别标记的开发将改善它们的管理。

方法和结果

我们使用全基因组筛选搜索了新的猫鼬微卫星标记，并确定了 115,265 个四核苷酸重复基因座。在测试的 96 个位点中，对冲绳种群的 28 只猫鼬中的 17 个进行了基因分型。遗传多样性分析表明，平均预期和观察到的杂合性和等位基因数分别为0.55、0.56和2.94。在 17 个位点中，有一个偏离了 Hardy-Weinberg 平衡，并且有 6 个位点对可能相互关联。然而，我们成功地使用所有微卫星基因座识别了所有个体。新的性别识别标记在使用已知性别样本的测试中成功运行。

结论

我们的新型微卫星和性别识别标记应可用于研究猫鼬的个体识别和种群遗传学。