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DNA fingerprinting in the endangered parrot Aratinga guarouba and other Aratinga species

Cristina Yumi Miyaki^I; Olivier Hanotte^II; Anita Wajntal^I; Terry Burke^II

^IDepartamento de Biologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 11461, 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brasil. Phone: (+55)11 211-4304, Fax: (+55)11 818-7416. Send correspondence to A.W.
^IIDepartment of Zoology, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, U.K. Phone: +44(0)116 252-3351, Fax +44(0)116 252-3330

ABSTRACT

The destruction of natural habitats and illegal trading are endangering many species of Brazilian parrots. Survival of some species may depend on breeding programmes in captivity. It is therefore important to be able to confirm the identity and parentage of the birds, and to maintain the genetic variability of captive populations. We studied here DNA fingerprints of the endangered Aratinga guarouba and five other species of Aratinga using two human minisatellite multilocus probes (33.6, 33.15) and the restriction enzyme HaeIII. Hybridization with 33.6 produces individual-specific patterns with 18 to 33 bands, depending on the species. The index of similarity obtained between unrelated birds was of the same order in the endangered A. guarouba (0.16) as in other Aratinga species (0.31 to 0.12) and in wild populations of birds reported in the literature. It was possible to perform segregation analysis of the bands only in A. a urea, for which we studied a pedigree including five chicks. There were at least 14 unlinked loci. Also, we assigned the parentage of three A. guarouba from a group of seven potential parents. A novel fragment was present in two siblings and absent from the third, this was interpreted as a gonadal "mutation" in one of the parents. Hybridization with 33.15 revealed a low number of bands in all Aratinga species but A. jandaya where 33.2 + 2.5 bands were scored. However, in all species the probe 33.15 hybridizes strongly to one or several possibly W-chromosome specific bands. Multilocus fingerprints should allow individual identification, parentage assignment and probably sex determination in the genus Aratinga. Moreover, band sharing indices can be used to prevent consanguineous matings and to maintain the genetic diversity of these species in captivity.

Keywords: DNA fingerprinting; endangered parrot; Aratinga guarouba.

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