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Sex identification in embryos and adults of Darwin’s finches

Darwin’s finches are an iconic example of adaptive radiation and evolution under natural selection. Comparative genetic studies using embryos of Darwin’s finches have shed light on the possible evolutionary processes underlying the speciation of this clade. Molecular identification of the sex of emb...

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Autores principales: Dobreva, Mariya P., Lynton-Jenkins, Joshua G., Chaves, Jaime A., Tokita, Masayoshi, Bonneaud, Camille, Abzhanov, Arkhat
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7935298/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33667220
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237687
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author Dobreva, Mariya P.
Lynton-Jenkins, Joshua G.
Chaves, Jaime A.
Tokita, Masayoshi
Bonneaud, Camille
Abzhanov, Arkhat
author_facet Dobreva, Mariya P.
Lynton-Jenkins, Joshua G.
Chaves, Jaime A.
Tokita, Masayoshi
Bonneaud, Camille
Abzhanov, Arkhat
author_sort Dobreva, Mariya P.
collection PubMed
description Darwin’s finches are an iconic example of adaptive radiation and evolution under natural selection. Comparative genetic studies using embryos of Darwin’s finches have shed light on the possible evolutionary processes underlying the speciation of this clade. Molecular identification of the sex of embryonic samples is important for such studies, where this information often cannot be inferred otherwise. We tested a fast and simple chicken embryo protocol to extract DNA from Darwin’s finch embryos. In addition, we applied minor modifications to two of the previously reported PCR primer sets for CHD1, a gene used for sexing adult passerine birds. The sex of all 29 tested embryos of six species of Darwin’s finches was determined successfully by PCR, using both primer sets. Next to embryos, hatchlings and fledglings are also impossible to distinguish visually. This extends to juveniles of sexually dimorphic species which are yet to moult in adult-like plumage and beak colouration. Furthermore, four species of Darwin’s finches are monomorphic, males and females looking alike. Therefore, sex assessment in the field can be a source of error, especially with respect to juveniles and mature monomorphic birds outside of the mating season. We caught 567 juveniles and adults belonging to six species of Darwin’s finches and only 44% had unambiguous sex-specific morphology. We sexed 363 birds by PCR: individuals sexed based on marginal sex specific morphological traits; and birds which were impossible to classify in the field. PCR revealed that for birds with marginal sex specific traits, sexing in the field produced a 13% error rate. This demonstrates that PCR based sexing can improve field studies on Darwin’s finches, especially when individuals with unclear sex-related morphology are involved. The protocols used here provide an easy and reliable way to sex Darwin’s finches throughout ontogeny, from embryos to adults.
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spelling pubmed-79352982021-03-15 Sex identification in embryos and adults of Darwin’s finches Dobreva, Mariya P. Lynton-Jenkins, Joshua G. Chaves, Jaime A. Tokita, Masayoshi Bonneaud, Camille Abzhanov, Arkhat PLoS One Research Article Darwin’s finches are an iconic example of adaptive radiation and evolution under natural selection. Comparative genetic studies using embryos of Darwin’s finches have shed light on the possible evolutionary processes underlying the speciation of this clade. Molecular identification of the sex of embryonic samples is important for such studies, where this information often cannot be inferred otherwise. We tested a fast and simple chicken embryo protocol to extract DNA from Darwin’s finch embryos. In addition, we applied minor modifications to two of the previously reported PCR primer sets for CHD1, a gene used for sexing adult passerine birds. The sex of all 29 tested embryos of six species of Darwin’s finches was determined successfully by PCR, using both primer sets. Next to embryos, hatchlings and fledglings are also impossible to distinguish visually. This extends to juveniles of sexually dimorphic species which are yet to moult in adult-like plumage and beak colouration. Furthermore, four species of Darwin’s finches are monomorphic, males and females looking alike. Therefore, sex assessment in the field can be a source of error, especially with respect to juveniles and mature monomorphic birds outside of the mating season. We caught 567 juveniles and adults belonging to six species of Darwin’s finches and only 44% had unambiguous sex-specific morphology. We sexed 363 birds by PCR: individuals sexed based on marginal sex specific morphological traits; and birds which were impossible to classify in the field. PCR revealed that for birds with marginal sex specific traits, sexing in the field produced a 13% error rate. This demonstrates that PCR based sexing can improve field studies on Darwin’s finches, especially when individuals with unclear sex-related morphology are involved. The protocols used here provide an easy and reliable way to sex Darwin’s finches throughout ontogeny, from embryos to adults. Public Library of Science 2021-03-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7935298/ /pubmed/33667220 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237687 Text en © 2021 Dobreva et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Dobreva, Mariya P.
Lynton-Jenkins, Joshua G.
Chaves, Jaime A.
Tokita, Masayoshi
Bonneaud, Camille
Abzhanov, Arkhat
Sex identification in embryos and adults of Darwin’s finches
title Sex identification in embryos and adults of Darwin’s finches
title_full Sex identification in embryos and adults of Darwin’s finches
title_fullStr Sex identification in embryos and adults of Darwin’s finches
title_full_unstemmed Sex identification in embryos and adults of Darwin’s finches
title_short Sex identification in embryos and adults of Darwin’s finches
title_sort sex identification in embryos and adults of darwin’s finches
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7935298/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33667220
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237687
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