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Article: A Study of the Reproductive Patterns in Alligators by Use of Fecal DNA.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Bulletin of the South Carolina Academy of Science
- Article date:
- January 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 South Carolina Academy of Science. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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To learn more about the reproductive patterns in alligators, one parental genotype was needed. However, not many females guard their nests and therefore it was difficult to obtain a blood sample. Feces, left by the guarding female, were noticed around the nests. The feces at the Santee Coastal Reserve were carefully collected in tubes and bags and later labeled. A Qiagen Fecal DNA Extraction Kit was obtained to isolate the DNA from the feces. The DNA, marked with five alligator-specific microsatellite primers, went through the PCR process using the Touchdown65 program. With the ABI 377 machine and the Genotyper and Genescan programs, the genotypes, or the size of the DNA ...