B. Goossens et al., PLUCKED HAIR SAMPLES AS A SOURCE OF DNA - RELIABILITY OF DINUCLEOTIDEMICROSATELLITE GENOTYPING, Molecular ecology, 7(9), 1998, pp. 1237-1241
To test whether plucked hairs are a reliable source of DNA for genotyp
ing microsatellite loci, we carried out experiments using one, three,
or 10 hairs per extract for 50 alpine marmots. For each extract, seven
independent genotypings were performed for the same locus (multiple-t
ubes approach). Two types of genotyping errors were recorded: a false
homozygote defined as the detection of only one allele of a true heter
ozygote, and a false allele defined as a PCR-generated allele that was
not one of the alleles of the true genotype. Using DNA extracted from
one, three, or 10 hairs, the overall error rate was 14.00%, 4.86%, an
d 0.29%, respectively. Based on our results, we conclude that 10 hairs
should be used to obtain consistently reliable genotypings using the
single-tube approach, and that a single plucked hair could represent a
reliable source of DNA if the multiple-tubes approach is used. For fu
ture studies of dinucleotide repeat diversity using DNA extracted from
one to three shed or plucked hairs, we strongly recommend initiating,
an appropriate pilot study to quantify the error rate and to determine
the reliability of the single-tube approach.