A comparison of different protocols for RAPD analysis of Littorina

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) is a fast and useful method of genome marking that is useful for studies of, for example, parentage, mating patterns, taxonomy of sibling species and intra-specific population genetic structures. Here we compare three different procedures for extracting high molecular weight genomic DNA; phenol-chloroform, hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium-bromide (CTAB) and Chelex 100. Double phenol-chloroform and CTAB extractions both generated high amounts of high quality DNA while Chelex 100 failed to do so. We also compared PCR-amplification with different concentrations of template DNA and found that 1–2 ng per 25 l of amplification cocktail gave the best results. Amplifying DNA prepared by the three extraction methods revealed that DNA extracted with double phenol-chloroform gave the clearest bands. The double phenol-chloroform extraction seems thus the most suitable extraction method for RAPD in Littorina, however Chelex may be the only method useful for extracting DNA from very small individuals, for example, pre-hatching stages.     

豆雁在中国的春季迁徙路线及迁徙停歇地

掌握禽流感病毒携带者豆雁(Anser fabalis)的迁徙路线对于全面理解候鸟在禽流感疫情传播与扩散中的作用具有重要意义。2013年3月至4月在江西省鄱阳湖南矶山保护区,利用卫星跟踪法对3只豆雁个体的迁徙路线进行研究,仅有1只个体成功传输数据。数据经Google Earth和Excel软件处理后,结果显示:该只豆雁由江西鄱阳湖出发,途经安徽、江苏、山东、天津等省市到达河北秦皇岛,5月被发现死于山海关,迁徙总距离约1 500 km,有5个停歇地;两相邻停歇地之间最短距离为20 km,最长为700 km;停留时间最短为1 d,最长为14 d;约68%的停歇位点地物类型为农田;飞行高度平均值为15 m,最大值为407 m。     

A preliminary analysis of the diet composition of overwintering Bean geese (Anser fabalis) and greater white-fronted geese (A. albifrons) in Korea using PCR on fecal samples

Bean geese (Anser fabalis) and Greater white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons) are the dominant wintering waterfowl in South Korea. Although they are commonly observed in estuaries and rice fields during the winter, the diet composition of the geese during the winter has rarely been studied. In this study, we provide the results from preliminary analyses on the diet of these two geese species overwintering in Daebu Island of South Korea. We used a total of 13 fecal samples from Bean geese (n?=?4) and Greater white-fronted geese (n?=?9), and performed a BLAST search for the sequences obtained from 87 clones (n?=?36 for Bean geese and n?=?51 for Greater white-fronted geese). The diet of Bean geese consisted of five families of plants: Caryophyllaceae (75.0%), Poaceae (13.9%), Asteraceae (5.5%), Polygonaceae (2.8%) and Cucurbitacea (2.8%). On the other hand, the diet of Greater white-fronted geese consisted of 6 families of plants: Poaceae (74.5%), Caryophyllaceae (9.8%), Solanacea (5.9%), Portulacaceae (3.9%), Lamiaceae (3.9%) and Brassicaceae (2.0%). We found that plants of the rice family (Poaceae) are important in the diet of wintering geese, especially for Greater white-fronted geese. This knowledge can be used to establish conservation strategies of the geese overwintering in South Korea.