Differentiation of the Italian wolf and the domestic dog based on microsatellite analysis

The Italian wolf is in the process of regaining the Alpine region which com es into conflict with the extensive sheep keeping practiced in Switzerland during the summer. As in Switzerland, the wolf is a protected species, the government reimburses losses caused by wolves. Therefore we wanted to know whether the Italian wolf could be distinguished from the domestic dog by mi crosatellite analysis if DNA samples of the predators could be secured. The evaluation of combined genotypes for the microsatellites CanBern6, CPH4, C PH7, CPH9, CPH12, CPH22 and ZuBeCa1 made it possible to identify an individ ual as either a domestic dog or an Italian wolf. The assignment of an indiv idual to either one of the two populations is based on the logarithm of the likelihood ratio of an individual being an Italian wolf rather than a dome stic dog, given a specific combined genotype. The distribution of the Itali an wolf combined genotypes (n = 42) is clearly distinct from the distributi on of the domestic dog combined genotypes (n = 90). The likelihood ratio fo r the "worst" Italian wolf combined genotype was 2.3E+5 and for the "worst" domestic dog combined genotype was 3.8 E - 5.