Populational genetic structure of free-living maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus) determined by proteic markers.

Electrophoretic analysis of presumptive twenty gene loci products was conducted in hemolisates and plasma samples of twenty-eight maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus) from an area in northeastern São Paulo State, Brazil. The area sampled was divided into three sub-areas, with the Mogi-Guaçu and Pardo rivers regarded as barriers to the gene flow. The polymorphism degree and heterozygosity level (intralocus and average) estimated in this study were similar to those detected by other authors for maned wolves and other species of wild free-living canids. The samples of each sub-area and the total sample exhibited genotype frequencies consistent with the genetic equilibrium model. The values of the F-statistics evidenced absence of inbreeding and population subdivision and, consequently, low genetic distances were found among the samples of each area.