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Killi Genetic Diversity Project Help Needed
A couple of months ago I offered my services in doing any DNA sequencing
for killies. I got one response from that offer, and what has emerged is
what I am calling, from here on out, the "Killifish Genetic Diversity
Project."
First let me give a brief synopsis/history:
I was contacted by Harry Specht, a member of the AUS study group, and he
described a problem which I believe exist with many killifish species. He
summarized the situation best in one of our correspondences when he said the
following:
"In the killifish hobby, there is a demand to keep each and every collection
site of a killie species separate. This is most difficult if only a few fish
are available to say nothing of the resultant inbreeding if it is carried
out ad infinitum. Then too, how many dedicated aquaria of each species must
a
hobbyist need to maintain a species? Somehow we need a setup whereby the
fish
species from various collection sites can be identified so the fish can be
mixed if they are truly the same species genetically. We must keep our
beautiful killies vital and healthy so future hobbyists can enjoy them long
after they are extinct in the wild. It is great fun so let's make certain it
goes on for a long time."
To help find a solution to this problem, I have spent the past month coming
up with a workable method for determining the genetic divergence and or
diversity between populations/species. I have reach the point where I am
ready to start processing fish samples. Harry has offered to help providing
some "founder fish" of AUS, but to get a clear view of the entire AUS
population complex, it would be nice to have samples from different
populations/collection sites.
This is where the "help needed", in the email subject, comes into play: I
need volunteers to donate samples. Now a couple of notes need to be made
about this request:
1) While a living fish is a nice sample, it is not necessary... even a dead
fish is not necessary... I have found that I actually got the best DNA from
a piece of tail fin (well actually most of the tail fin), and best of all
the fish is still haply swimming around (although he did give me evil looks
for couple of days afterwards <g>).
2)I am doing this project on my own time with no monetary support (my lab
has agreed to pay for all of my reagents), so I can't afford to pay $8 a
pair/piece for 30 samples <g>. If you have a different population I may be
able to buy a pair or two (after all I am still a fishaholic), but this will
have to be on an individual basis.
3) If you would like to donate samples please contact me ahead of time so
that I can give you shipping instructions, make arrangements for styro
return/replacement, ect...
I have several people ask me why I picked AUS as the species of study...
well I didn't really pick AUS; AUS picked me. After seeing how easy it is
going to be to process the samples, I have decided that I would really like
to extend this project to other species (GAR was at the top of my head). I
think would be nice to form a "genetic library" of all of the killi
species/populations. If you have suggestions for a species(es) to start
with, or have some samples to donate to the "library" please contact me (off
list of course...although I don't see a problem with some discussion on the
issue on the lists).
Thanks for your time, I'm sure I have missed something but as it is late and
I still need to go back to the lab to do some work on the project I am going
to say bye for now. I hope to hear from you soon,
Daniel
---
Daniel Boyer <dpboyer at facstaff_wisc.edu>
DNA Sequencing/Synthesis Facility
Biotech Center
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI
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