Low genetic variation in muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) from western Greenland using microsatellites

Muskoxen are large herbivores living in Arctic environments. Lack of geneti c variation in allozymes has made it difficult to study the social and gene tic structure of this species. In this study, we have tried to find polymor phic microsatellite loci using both cattle-derived microsatellite primers a nd primers developed from a genomic plasmid library of muskoxen. Only limit ed variation was found for both sets of microsatellite loci. We conclude th at this consistent low genetic variation is probably due to demographic fea tures of the muskoxen populations rather than to methodological constraints caused by the transfer of microsatellites between species.