Identifying the sex of a bird is important to ensure successful breeding strategies and effective conservation programs. Sex may be identified from the intron size of the CHD1 gene located on the avian sex chromosomes Z and W. However, because of the great nucleotide diversity across different avian species, no given intron is in widespread use without ambiguous results. Complicated modifications of the reaction condition are required to suit different species. Two CHD1 introns were used with a unified reaction condition in this study to simplify the procedure. Consequently, genders of 73 avian species covering 19 families were successfully identified based on this two-intron approach. This means the ability to sex a wider range of avian species using a simplified procedure, greatly assisting in population management at zoos. Zoo Biol 26:425-431, 2007. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Molecular sexing of the diversified avian family Strigidae is difficult. Sex identification using the intron length difference between W and Z chromosomal CHD1 genes, as visualized by agarose gel electrophoreses, often produces ambiguous results. Here we describe a simple method for sexing a variety of Strigidae species using oligonucleotide microarrays, on which several sex-specific probes operated complementarily or in concert. The sex of 8 owl species was identified clearly on the microarrays through sequence recognition. This sequence-directed method can be easily applied to a wider range of Strigidae species.
Sex determination of birds is important to ensure successful breeding strategies, especially for endangered species. Most birds are vulnerable to stress during handling, however, so obtaining a sufficient amount of genomic DNA (gDNA) while causing the least amount of harm is a critical issue. Avian gender can be determined based on different CHD1 gene intron sizes in W and Z sex chromosomes. We have compared various specimen sources and have found that the rachis segment of a feather is a good DNA source for determining sex. This indicates that plucking the whole feather is not necessary; a cut feather including the rachis is a superior method because it decreases stress on the examined birds and is accomplished easily.
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