Microsatellite variation in Scandinavian Cervidae using primers derived from Bovidae.

The possibility of using microsatellite primers developed in Bovidae to amplify microsatellite markers in Cervidae was surveyed by using 75 microsatellite primer sets of bovine, ovine or caprine origin to analyse DNA from moose, red deer, reindeer and roe deer from Scandinavia. On average for the four cervids, approximately 50% of the ovine/caprine primer pairs amplified a specific PCR product, compared to only 16% of the bovine primers. Approximately 50% of both ovine/caprine and bovine primers that amplified a specific product were polymorphic, giving 15 polymorphic microsatellite markers in moose, 11 in red deer, 21 in reindeer and 10 in roe deer. Reindeer had a higher proportion of polymorphic loci, more alleles per locus and higher mean heterozygosity than the other cervids.