Genetic Diversity Of Red Deer (Cervus E. Xanthopygus) Population In Autumn And Winter At Inner Mongolia Saihanwula Nature Reserve

Red deer(Cervus elaphus xanthopygus)is a second class national key protected wild animal.According to previous surveys,red deer has abundant quantities at the Saihanwula Nature Researve,Inner Mongolia.Some changes have taken place in the researve area in the past 5 years.However,there are no reports about the status of the population;which has increased difficulties for the personnel in the researve to make protective strategies.The main purpose of this study is to get basic information of the red deer population.The fecal genome DNA was extracted by collecting the fecal samples from the researve.Species identification was carried out using species-specific primers.The selected microsatellite primers were applied to individual identification.Based on the SRY gene,the sex ratio of the population was detected by sex identification.Finally,cytochrome b gene was used to study the genetic diversity of the population.In December 2015 and October 2016,293 fecal samples and 163 faecal samples were collected in the protected area.The fecal genomic DNA was extracted using Omega kit,and the success rate was over 90%.The species-specific primers were used to identify species with 242 winter fecal samples were identified as red deer,while 140 autumn fecal samples were identified.After individual identification 8 pairs of microsatellite primers were used to identify individuals with 56 animals were identified from winter samples,and 41 individuals were identified from autumn samples.Based on the SRY gene,two methods were used to determine the sex ratio(female:male)of red deer population.The final result was 1.8:1 in winter and 0.71:1 in autum.The fragment of Cytb gene was amplified and sequenced for genetic diversity analysis in order to detect population genetic diversity.By MEGA5 and clustalX calculation,there were 9 haplotypes of the population with 11 polymorphic loci.Haplotype diversity(Hd)was 0.933±0.0016,and nucleotide polymorphism(Pi)was 0.0116±0.0000052,the average of nucleotide difference(k)was 4.25.The results showed that the fecal DNA extract rate was high.Total discrimination power(TPD)reached 0.999999788 based on the 8 microsatellite loci,which can be used for individual identification.The average genetic distance(0.24±0.024)in the winter groups in 2015 was less than the average genetic distance(0.27 ± 0.048)in the autumn groups in 2016.It was confirmed the speculation that the red deer population in this area could avoid inbreeding by expelling the related males before the estrous mating is not exactly right.The genetic diversity of the red deer population at Saihanwula Nature Researve is also high.