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Advances in sex determination in bats and its utility in wind‐wildlife studies
Author(s) -
Korstian J. M.,
Hale A. M.,
Bennett V. J.,
Williams D. A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
molecular ecology resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.96
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1755-0998
pISSN - 1755-098X
DOI - 10.1111/1755-0998.12118
Subject(s) - biology , wildlife , evolutionary biology , zoology , zinc finger , range (aeronautics) , computational biology , ecology , genetics , gene , materials science , transcription factor , composite material
We developed a simple and reliable genetic method to determine sex in bats from the Vespertilionidae and Molossidae families. Polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify a portion of the introns within the zinc‐finger‐X ( Zfx ) and zinc‐finger‐Y ( Zfy ) genes. We designed primers to produce size variation between the Zfx and Zfy products that could be visualized using gel electrophoresis. Using an example from our wind‐wildlife research, we show how sex data generated using this method are superior to sex data based on external morphology. Our method allows for the generation of sex data across a wide range of bats that can be used to address key questions in wildlife forensics, behavioural ecology, conservation and evolutionary biology.