Haworth Evan S, Cunningham Michael J, Calf Tjorve Kathleen M
Biochemistry, Genetics & Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Applied Ecology, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, Norway.
PeerJ. 2018 Jun 13;6:e5000. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5000. eCollection 2018.
Sugarbirds are a family of two socially-monogamous passerine species endemic to southern Africa. Cape and Gurney's Sugarbird ( and ) differ in abundance, dispersion across their range and in the degree of sexual dimorphism in tail length, factors that affect breeding systems and potentially genetic diversity. According to recent data, are in decline and revision of the species' IUCN conservation status to a threatened category may be warranted. It is therefore necessary to understand genetic diversity and risk of inbreeding in this species. We used six polymorphic microsatellite markers and one mitochondrial gene (ND2) to compare genetic diversity in from Helderberg Nature Reserve and from Golden Gate Highlands National Park, sites at the core of each species distribution. We describe novel universal avian primers which amplify the entire ND2 coding sequence across a broad range of bird orders. We observed high mitochondrial and microsatellite diversity in both sugarbird populations, with no detectable inbreeding and large effective population sizes.
糖鸟是一个由两种实行社会性一夫一妻制的雀形目物种组成的家族，它们是非洲南部特有的。海角糖鸟和格尼氏糖鸟在数量、分布范围以及尾长的两性异形程度上存在差异，这些因素会影响繁殖系统以及潜在的遗传多样性。根据最近的数据，海角糖鸟数量在下降，可能有必要将该物种在世界自然保护联盟（IUCN）的保护等级修订为受威胁类别。因此，有必要了解该物种的遗传多样性和近亲繁殖风险。我们使用了六个多态性微卫星标记和一个线粒体基因（ND2）来比较来自赫尔德贝格自然保护区的海角糖鸟和来自金门高地国家公园的格尼氏糖鸟的遗传多样性，这两个地点位于每个物种分布的核心区域。我们描述了一种新型的通用鸟类引物，它能在广泛的鸟类目中扩增整个ND2编码序列。我们在两个糖鸟种群中都观察到了较高的线粒体和微卫星多样性，没有检测到近亲繁殖现象，并且有效种群规模较大。
