Abstract
A fully pedigreed colony of the dasyurid marsupialSminthopsis crassicaudata has provided material for establishing two panels of DNA samples: a broad-based test panel and a two-generation family panel. These have been used to search for genetic markers in the form of restriction fragment length variants. The molecular probes—pSG-2H, a region of theS. crassicaudata embryonic β-globin gene; pB8.BS, a region of the human ubiquitin gene, and p3-21a1:1, a region of the processed pseudogene of phosphoglycerate kinase-1 of the macropodid marsupialMacropus robustus—were hybridized to Southern blots ofEcoR1-digested DNA from the panels. Analysis of these blots when probed with pSG-2H provided evidence of two alleles segregating at a singleEcoR1 site. Analysis of the same blots when probed with pB8.BS suggested allelic variation at two closely linkedEcoR1 sites. Probing the blots with p3-21a1:1 produced a complex pattern of bands resembling DNA fingerprints. The presence of a 12.3-kb band was found to conform to a simple autosomal dominant mode of inheritance. Analysis of the family data, for each probe, revealed no significant departure from Mendelian inheritance. This work has provided additional genetic markers that will enhance the use ofS. crassicaudata as a model marsupial species and has demonstrated that a high level of genetic variability has been maintained in the marsupial colony.
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This project was supported by grants from the Australian Research Council and the University of Adelaide.
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Hope, R., Bennett, H., Chesson, C. et al. Restriction fragment length variants in the marsupialSminthopsis crassicaudata . Biochem Genet 30, 361–370 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00569327
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00569327