Use of an AG microsatellite to characterise Alectoris species

The red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) is normally found in the Iberian Peninsula, southern France and some points of northern Italy and southern England. A number of factors have drastically reduced the number of wild red-legged partridges in these areas. It is necessary to know their genetic situation and to identify different populations and species. Microsatellite markers are very effective genetic markers. In order to identify microsatellite markers in this species to gain genetic knowledge of their populations, DNA was cleaved partially with AluI and ligated in plasmid pSMART; this was inserted in Escherichia coli to obtain a whole genome library. This library was screened by amplifying with the polymerase chain reaction and then sequencing the A. rufa DNA in plasmids isolated from colonies selected at random. Some of the sequenced PCR products were found to contain possible microsatellite sequences and two of these were used to characterise four different species of Alectoris. One of these sequences (GTTTT) was always found to be repeated three times but the number of repeats of the second one (AG) was found to vary between species. Therefore, the (AG)n microsatellite may be a good candidate to distinguish between species of the genre Alectoris.