RELATIONSHIPS AND GENETIC PURITY OF THE ENDANGERED MEXICAN WOLF BASEDON ANALYSIS OF MICROSATELLITE LOCI

The Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), and endangered subspecies of g ray wolf, was native to parts of Mexico and the southwestern United St ates. Currently, only a few individuals, if any, exist in the wild, so planned reintroduction programs must use captive-raised wolves. In on ly one captive population, however, designated the certified lineage, are all the founders (n = 4) known to be obtained from a wild populati on of Mexican wolves. Two captive populations were founded from indivi duals of uncertain ancestry and have not been included in the species survival plan. To preserve genetic diversity and reduce inbreeding so that fitness will be maintained, it would be desirable to include thes e two captive populations in the breeding program if it could be shown that they were derived from a wild population similar to the certifie d lineage. We compared allele frequencies of 10 hypervariable microsat ellite loci in Mexican gray wolves with those found in a sample of 42 domestic dogs. 151 northern gray wolves, and 142 coyotes to determine if uncertified Mexican wolves had specific markers from these animals. We analyzed pairwise genetic distance measures to demonstrate that th e three captive populations of Mexican gray wolves were closely relate d to each other and distinct from dogs and northern gray wolves. The t hree captive populations are genetically more similar to each other th an to any other population of dog or wolf-like canid, and they shared alleles that were rare in other canids. The genetic distance between t hem is similar to that between closely spaced populations of northern gray wolves. As a group, moreover, they are the most genetically disti nct population of North American gray wolf. Therefor, the three captiv e populations could potentially be interbred to augment the genetic di versity of the certified lineage. Source individuals for reintroductio n should be derived from the captive Mexican wolf population rather th an populations of captive or wild northern gray wolves.