Genetic characterization of four wild species of Chinese marmots using microsatellite markers

Marmots are large ground squirrels, and 14 species have been reported in the world, including four species of marmots (Himalayan marmot, Tarbagan marmot, gray marmot and long-tailed marmot) living in China. Although these biological resources are abundant in China, information regarding their genetic features is lacking, hampering further study regarding them. The aims of this research were to evaluate genetic variations of four species of Chinese wild marmots, and analyzed kinship of these marmot populations. In the current study, we collected samples of four species of Chinese wild marmot and analyzed the effective allele number, gene diversity, the Shannon index, and polymorphism information to evaluate genetic variations using 13 microsatellite loci. Based on Nei's genetic distance using the unweighted pair group method, we constructed a dendrogram to analyze the population kinship. We determined that all four Chinese marmot species had high genetic polymorphisms and departure from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The Chinese marmots to be divided into two large groups: Himalayan marmot was independent group. Tarbagan marmot, gray marmot and long-tailed marmot were others; Tarbagan marmot and gray marmot showed a close kinship with each other, but long-tailed marmot did not have a close relationship with the other species. The high polymorphisms and the kinship of Chinese marmot populations were correlated with geographical terrain of their habitat. Himalayan marmot was characterized as living in unique alpine meadows in Qinghai-Tibet plateau and was affected by terrain; however, Tarbagan marmot, gray marmot and long-tailed marmot were characterized as living in grassland or alpine grassland and were not affected by terrain. Genetic features of Chinese wild marmots were investigated in this study. This may give using information regarding protection of Chinese wild marmot resource and further application of biomedical research.