Edwards Scott V
Mol Ecol. 2008 Feb;17(4):945-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03644.x. Epub 2008 Jan 22.
The polymerase chain reaction has been a boon to the study of molecular ecology and population genetics of birds. But the nagging truth is that for many bird species, the number of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer pairs that one can pick off the shelf and expect to amplify their target loci with ease is frustratingly small. Now, studying DNA sequence variation in natural populations of birds just got a whole lot easier. This issue of Molecular Ecology reports a large-scale bioinformatics search for exonic sequences conserved between the chicken and zebra finch genomes and flanking polymorphic introns that has generated a staggering 242 PCR primer pairs that readily amplify their single-copy target loci in five avian species spanning approximately 100 million years of avian evolution (Backström et al. 2008). As proof of principle, these primers have also been used to survey the genomic landscape in over 110 kb of intronic sequence in the collared flycatcher, a model species in ecology and evolution. These resources pave the way for easy multilocus study of evolving populations and lineages of birds, and bring the goal of quickly turning nonmodel species in to ecological genomic models tantalizingly close.
聚合酶链反应对鸟类分子生态学和种群遗传学研究来说是一项福音。但恼人的事实是，对于许多鸟类物种而言，能从现成的引物中挑选出来并有望轻松扩增其目标位点的聚合酶链反应（PCR）引物对数量少得令人沮丧。如今，研究鸟类自然种群中的DNA序列变异变得容易多了。本期《分子生态学》报道了一项大规模生物信息学研究，该研究在鸡和斑胸草雀基因组之间保守的外显子序列以及侧翼多态性内含子中进行搜索，生成了多达242对PCR引物，这些引物能够轻易地在跨越约1亿年鸟类进化历程的5种鸟类中扩增其单拷贝目标位点（Backström等人，2008年）。作为原理验证，这些引物还被用于在白领姬鹟（生态学和进化研究中的模式物种）超过110 kb的内含子序列中勘测基因组格局。这些资源为轻松开展鸟类进化种群和谱系的多位点研究铺平了道路，并使迅速将非模式物种转变为生态基因组模式这一目标变得触手可及。
