SREL Reprint #2427

Dinucleotide microsatellite loci in a migratory wood warbler (Parulidae:  Limnothlypis swainsonii) and amplification among other songbirds

Kevin Winker1, Travis C. Glenn2, and Gary R. Graves3

1University of Alaska Museum, 907 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802; & Department of Biological Science,
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
3National Museum of Natural history, Laboratory of Molecular Systematics, MSC MRC 534,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560

Introduction: Development of conservation and management plans can be aided by genetic data, and the utility of microsatellites for studies of genetic variability, population structure, gene flow, and relatedness makes these loci appropriate for studies of declining natural populations. Wood warblers (Parulidae), a New World family of 115 species of 25 genera, have played an important role in studies of avian ecology, evolution, hybridization, and behaviour. Also, 7% of the species are threatened or endangered (Collar et al. 1992), and populations of other species are locally threatened or declining.
We developed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays of microsatellite loci for Swainson's Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii), the only species in the genus Limnothlypis and among the rarest wood warblers in North America (Brown & Dickson 1994). Our PCR primers were tested for their ability to amplify orthologous loci in 19 other wood warblers and five other species of three different families.

SREL Reprint #2427

Winker, K., T.C. Glenn, and G.R. Graves. 1999. Dinucleotide microsatellite loci in a migratory wood warbler (Parulidae:  Limnothlypis swainsonii) and amplification among other songbirds. Molecular Ecology 8:1553-1556.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).