DNA-FINGERPRINTING IN SPEKES GAZELLE - A TEST FOR GENETIC DISTINCTNESS, AND THE CORRELATION BETWEEN RELATEDNESS AND SIMILARITY

In the absence of pedigree information, the determination of genetic d istinctness of populations can only be made by genetic methods. Using DNA fingerprinting on the North American captive herd of Speke's gazel le Gazella spekei, we were able to address two hypotheses. First, two new individuals were found to have come from a genetically distinct po pulation (P = 0.008, permutation test), and represent potential new fo unders to be added to the population. Secondly, genetic similarity was not significantly correlated with relatedness under extreme inbreedin g and very close relationship (coefficient of relationship range 0.304 -0.717).