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Published on: March 13, 2011
Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in the beaver (Castor canadensis)
1Department of Biological Sciences, Eastern Illinois University, 600 Lincoln Avenue, Charleston, Illinois 61920, USA, Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, Southern Illinois University, 251 Life Science II, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, USA.
Abstract:
We have isolated and characterized 10 microsatellite loci in the beaver (Castor canadensis). Sixty individuals from southern and central Illinois were screened at each locus. All loci exhibited moderate levels of polymorphism, ranging from five to 13 alleles per locus with average heterozygosity ranging from 0.317 to 0.867. Locus Cca5 deviated significantly from HWE (P < 0.001). The locus pair Cca4/Cca5 was shown to be in linkage disequilibrium in southern Illinois, but not in the central Illinois population. The remaining eight loci will be useful in investigations of mating and kinship patterns in beaver populations in Illinois.

