INFORMATIVE ENZYME PROBE COMBINATIONS FOR THE MULTILOCUS DNA-FINGERPRINTING OF MARSUPIALS/

DNA fingerprinting has become an invaluable tool in the study of popul ation genetics, paternity success, and individual identification; howe ver, the species specificity of some methods has made the wide-range s creening of many different species very time-consuming. In this study we describe the development and application of reliable and informativ e DNA fingerprinting techniques in a range of marsupial species using three different restriction enzyme and two oligonucleotide probe combi nations. Six species from four marsupial families, the koala (Phascola rctidae), tammar wallaby (Macropodidae), southern hairy-nosed wombat ( Vombatidae), kowari, and dusky and brown marsupial mice (Dasyuridae) w ere examined. Restriction enzymes HinfI AluI and HaeIII were used in c ombination with the digoxygenin (DIG)-labelled oligonucleotide probes (CAC)(5) and (GGAT)(4). The combinations of HinfI/(GGAT)(4), AluI/(CAC )(5) and AluI/(GGAT)(4) were the most informative, providing highly re solved bands, low background, and the lowest band sharing between indi viduals. The genetic diversity evident within the different species sh owed a clear relationship between the level of band sharing and popula tion size. The greatest levels of band sharing were found in the kowar is (80%), which were part of a long-term captive colony originating fr om a few founders, and the lowest levels of band sharing were found in the marsupial mice (30-35%) and tammar wallaby (45%), which were caug ht from large outbred wild populations.