DNA fingerprinting in the rare black-fronted piping guan Pipile jacutinga (Cracidae, Aves)

Brazilian Cracidae are threatened by heavy environmental degradation and hunting. The Black-fronted piping-guan (Pipile jacutinga) used to inhabit the Atlantic coastal highland forests. Now it occurs in limited forest areas where it is rarely seen. Interative management, including captive breeding, might be an important action for its survival. We present data on DNA fingerprinting using Jeffreys' human minisatellite probes 33.6 and 33.15. Our results show that this technique is useful for estimating the genetic variability of natural populations and may help to maintain the genetic variability of captive bred individuals of this species. A linkage analysis of the fingerprint profiles in a family with 7 chicks was performed (to estimate the number of independently segregating loci detected in this species) and at least 16 highly polymorphic independent loci were identified for each probe.