RAPD typing of north-east Atlantic minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)

Abstract

This work describes the conditions for applying the arbitrary amplification of polymorphic DNA for stock determination in the minke whale. Out of 192 primers screened, only 36 were useful to detect genomic DNA-polymorphisms. Seven of these primers were used to type 31 minke whales caught in the waters around Spitsbergen (n = 7), Bear Island (n = 8), Finnmark (n = 8) and Lofoten-Vesteralen (n = 8). Our results showed first a low percentage of primers (19%) revealing polymorphisms, secondly a high number of polymorphic bands with high frequencies (6 out of 14 had a frequency higher than 0.77 and 3 of those had a frequency higher than 0.90) and thirdly an average fraction of matching bands that was sometimes greater between than within areas. None of these findings support the view that the 31 typed animals belonged to distinct breeding stocks, thus emphasizing the importance of carrying out a broader study including more animals, locations, years and techniques of analysis, in order to clarify the number and borderlines of breeding stocks in the north-east Atlantic.